Nigeria’s government plans to investigate over 23,000 civil servants accused of involvement in an organised salary scam.
According to an investigative committee set up to probe these claims, banks would also be probed.
The civil servants allegedly defrauded the government of millions each month, paying “ghost” workers’ salaries, or making payments to multiple accounts, according to the committee’s preliminary investigation.
One of the banks that has been implicated in the scandal allegedly opened 300 accounts in one day, yet none of them were ever used.
Several senior government officials in the country were fired last month after they were found guilty of promising employment to desperate Nigerians for a fee of $2,000 each.
Local newspaper The Daily Post reports that the fraudsters sent their victims letters of appointment and uploaded their details to the state’s payroll system, before they were caught.
Festus Akanbi, Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance on Media Matters, refused to confirm the committee’s preliminary findings. He said the results of the investigation would be made public once it had been concluded.
