The Ondo State House of Assembly has demanded an explanation over the discovery of a ‘secret bank account’ believed to be active during the former governor, Olusegun Mimiko’s administration.
A total of N4.3bn is reportedly stashed in the ‘secret’ Zenith Bank account, The Precision NG learnt.
Speaker of Ondo State House Assembly, Bamidele Oleyelogun, in a telephone chat with The Precision NG confirmed the discovery of the ‘secret’ account.
Oleyelogun said the Assembly was worried over the account but had already summoned the Accountant-General and Auditor-General of the state to report before the lawmakers for explanations on the discovery
“The Commissioner for Finance has come here and told us his own side mostly on how the account was discovered.
“So, we would be expecting the two men too to come over and probably furnish the Assembly with details of transactions on this account,” Oleyelogun said.
The Precision NG gathered that the money was been kept in the account for over 10 years, generating interest until it was uncovered during auditing of the state accounts recently.
The bank account was active during the administration of a former governor, Olusegun Mimiko, it was learnt.
However, details of transactions carried out on the account remained sketchy for now.
A lawmaker in the state who also confirmed the discovery of the account noted that the fund in it was lodged without due process, thereby raising some suspicions of corruption by some government officials.
The lawmaker disclosed that the money was discovered through the efforts of the Commissioner for Fiance in the state, Mr Wale Akinterinwa.
“We learnt that the money had been kept in that account for over 10 years and was recently discovered due to auditing carried out on bank accounts belonging to the government.
“The most suspicious of it all was that this particular money was lodged in the bank account without following due process.
“And of particular interest to us is about the authorisation of this account or who and who are the signatories to it.
“We all want to know when the account was opened and what has also been the interest rate accruable to the government since then,” the lawmaker said
