Shocking revelations were made Monday as the Justice Kpojime panel of inquiry quizzed the General Manager of the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC), Mrs. Bridget Sheidu. According to sources at the High Court 4, Makurdi, Mrs. Sheidu amongst other revelations told the panel that she was not aware of the sales of about 60 billion Naira worth of Benue state shares under the company's watch.
According to her, up to August 2015 shares of BIPC were illegally sold by stock brokers adding that she does not know who mandated the sales and where the proceeds went. She further informed that the then commissioner of finance provided two separate accounts for proceeds from sale of shares to be remitted .
It could be recalled that former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam had denied allegations of sale of government shares in the course of his administration and even recently dared the present administration to extend its search light to the sale of the shares.
However according to investigations Tuesday, September 2, 2014, Elixir Investment Partners, a fund management and advisory firm, working on the instructions of the government, offloaded a significant amount of shares in 16 transactions which involved the sale of 6,152,127 units of shares earning a whopping N1.35 billion in that single transaction.
Elixir returned to the market on Wednesday, September 17, when it concluded 11 transactions involving the sale of Dangote Cement shares held by Benue State government, and again the next day when 29 sale transactions were concluded.
Similar transactions were conducted on September 19, September 22 and September 23, and the biggest single transaction was concluded on Wednesday, September 24 when in one transaction alone, over nine million units of shares were sold for N2.19 billion.
Also revealed by the panel was the claim that contracts executed by the Company were executed via direct labour to cut cost.
However further investigation into the claim has shown that companies such as Design Stages, Allveiw Nig. Ltd and O&H Tech all belonging to fronts for various government functionaries in the previous administration that were awarded conracts amounting to over 300 Million Naira
By Ter Tor-Bisibi
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