The police yesterday retrieved three versions of the budget from ousted House of Representatives Appropriations Committee chairman Abdulmumin Jibrin as probe of his allegation of padding began.
The Special Investigation Panel (SIP) has started sieving the documents to isolate the padded areas, it was learnt.
Jibrin petitioned the police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies, alleging the padding of Budget 2016 by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuff Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Minority Leader Leo Ogor and nine others.
A source said: “The search for padded areas by the panel has started. As at Monday (yesterday), the panel was in receipt of three versions of the 2016 Budget.
“These versions are the original copy laid before the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, the version passed by the National Assembly but rejected by the President due to omission of some key projects, such as the N60billion Calabar-Lagos rail project; and the harmonised copy.
“With the retrieval of these budget versions, detectives have started identifying padded areas by the House members.
“After locating these padded areas, the SIP will be able to determine the focus of interrogation and the list of those to be questioned alongside the 13 already implicated by Jibrin.”
The Special Investigation Panel (SIP) has started sieving the documents to isolate the padded areas, it was learnt.
Jibrin petitioned the police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies, alleging the padding of Budget 2016 by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuff Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Minority Leader Leo Ogor and nine others.
A source said: “The search for padded areas by the panel has started. As at Monday (yesterday), the panel was in receipt of three versions of the 2016 Budget.
“These versions are the original copy laid before the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, the version passed by the National Assembly but rejected by the President due to omission of some key projects, such as the N60billion Calabar-Lagos rail project; and the harmonised copy.
“With the retrieval of these budget versions, detectives have started identifying padded areas by the House members.
“After locating these padded areas, the SIP will be able to determine the focus of interrogation and the list of those to be questioned alongside the 13 already implicated by Jibrin.”
