Civil society groups in the country have urged the EFCC to ensure diligent prosecution of the six civil servants standing trial over Pension Fund fraud.
The call was contained in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, signed by Mr Auwal Rafsanjani, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC),
“We call on the EFCC to ensure diligent prosecution of the cases instituted on account of the work of the pension task team.“
The coalition is made up of CISLAC, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC).
They also urged the courts to ensure that justice prevailed in the case.
“This is the least we all can do to demonstrate our displeasure at the betrayal of pensioners who have suffered untold hardships or even died because of the atrocities committed by a few.
“It is worth noting that the Pension Reform Task Team through its work has amongst other achievements saved the country a whopping N159 billion.
“Parts of the recovered funds have already been returned to the federation account and appropriated for national development; the committee has equally discovered 71,000 ghost workers through biometrics verification it initiated.”
The statement noted with concern what it called an unhealthy relationship existing between members of the Senate committee on pension and some of the indicted officials.
“We strongly suspect as alleged by some media reports that money may have changed hands or else how can the seemingly funny attitude of the committee be explained?
“ There are also allegations that some key members of the committee were seen in a car alongside some of the accused persons,” it said.
The statement urged the House of Representatives Committee on Pension to exercise all its legislative powers, so as to ensure that culprits involved in pension scam face the full weight of the law.
