When Yari fought desperately to install his Commissioner of Finance as his successor in Zamfara, Most people believed he was bent on having a stooge that will cover up his financial mismanagement. But just how bad the books were, nobody knew until now that the new administration of Dr Bello Matawalle has access to the books.
Contrary to claims by Yari that he has left behind no debts, the transition committee has discovered a 100 Billion plus debt profile that was as reckless as it was dubious. In the Ministry for local govt and chieftaicy affairs alone, Yari left behind liabilities of 35 Billion Naira.
These liabilities are not even the issue, a careful appraisal of the books revealed a systematic embezzlement of funds through bogus contracts and illegal deductions, running into Billions of Naira with barely anything tangible on the ground to justify the spendings.
In total disregard for any known procedure, Yari approved contracts to dubious companies without any competitive bidding and in contravention of the procurement act. A certain Alliance Trading Company Ltd was awarded a contract for rural electrification at a sum of 22.9 Billion naira and was fully paid even though they have not executed the Job. Another Company, China Zhongao Ltd was awarded 2 contracts for the construction of 84 Solar powered Boreholes at the sum of 27 Billion naira each. Now, a simple division of 27 Billion into 84 means that each unit of the boreholes cost the state govt 325 million Naira.
The 1st contract was awarded in 2014 with a 50% advance payment. The 2nd contract was again awarded in 2018 with another 50% advance payment even though the 1st contract wasn’t executed. In their reports to the Transition committee, the subcommittee for the local govt ministry revealed that the company has not even mobilized to the site for the 2nd contract. They also noted that non of the beneficiary companies provided any bond, collateral or insurance before they were paid in advance.
Contracts were not the only means through which Yari siphoned funds in the ministry, every month, bogus deductions were made running into hundreds of millions of Naira under dubious subheads like Loan repayments, Bank Charges, Security Consultants, UMRA, Hajj, etc. In fact some of the items are so funny and uninspirational that one wonders the sanity of their proponents. It was clear that Yari and his collaborators never imagined that those books will be subjected to scrutiny, that’s the only explanation why they were so reckless.
Other companies used by Yari to launder funds included Mothercat Ltd, Eurobond, BT transport, BT oil, Habibu Engineering and a few others.
According to a petitioner to both EFCC and ICPC, Yari actually used those companies to launder public funds. It’s alleged that most of those companies usually transferred large amount from any payment they got in Zamfara to Yari through his personal accounts, bureau de change or associates. In fact, it’s even alleged that Yari used credit cards linked to those companies whenever he traveled abroad.
There were also smaller contracts that Yari awarded to his cronies like one Alhaji Samaila S Pawa alias Konka and one Alhaji Rilwanu Ibrahim Milo. They were awarded inflated contracts for smaller boreholes and rural electrification on monthly basis and were paid hundreds of millions even in instances where they didn’t even mobilize to sites.
In the home affairs Dept of the Cabinet office, Yari left a staggering debt of 41 Billion.
Most of that debt was tied to non existent projects and inflated bills.
For example, Claims of building of various hostel blocks in different institutions including Federal Polytechnic Kaura Namoda, Fed University Gusau, FCET Gusau, ABU Zaria and few others were discovered to be false. There were also inflated invoices for vehicles including a Mercedes Benz purchased at 141m naira that are nowhere to be found.
