EFCC Arrests Akwa Ibom AIDS Director over N30m ‘Fraud’
Peratives of the Uyo zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested the Director and Project Manager of Akwa Ibom State Agency for Centre of AIDS, Dr. Nkereuwem Akpan, for allegedly embezzling N30 million meant for HIV/AIDS programmes in the state.
The AIDS programmes include outreach sensitisation, HIV testing and counselling, the purchase of screening and confirmatory test tiebreaker.
Akpan was reportedly arrested last Thursday following allegation that he allegedly misappropriated the fund, which was paid to the agency last November by the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) of Akwa Ibom State.
A statement by the anti-graft agency said investigation into the matter revealed that within the same month the money was released to the agency, Akpan single-handedly instructed that N24,600,000 be moved into the account of a company called Effective Medical Lab belonging to his suspected accomplice, Peter Uduak.
The statement said Uduak admitted that he received the money on Akpan’s instruction and withdrew same and handed it over to him in cash.
According to the EFCC, Uduak confessed that he got N100,000 only from the transaction.
The statement added: “It was also discovered that immediately the money hit Uduak’s account, he withdrew the money between November 26 and November 28, 2018, and handed it over to Akpan in cash, and Akpan in turn deposited N22 million into his private account (Life Link Specialist Laboratory) domiciled in Access Bank.
“Further investigation showed that less than N6 million was used by the suspect for the purposes for which the N30 million was released.
“During interrogation, the suspect confessed that the essence of instructing the N24,600,000 to be paid into his friend’s company account and later to his company’s account was to conceal the source of the money, having originated from the SSG.
“The suspect also confessed to using N7,120,000 to buy Christmas rice for people who helped in contacting the authority for the release of the said money.”
The EFCC said Akpan had made a useful confessional statement, adding that he would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dominic Ukpong, who confirmed Akpan’s arrest, said he did not have details of what led to his arrest.
“Yes, he was arrested, but I have not been able to get in touch with him since then. I don’t have more details on the matter. I am trying to investigate the claims,” he said.
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