60 civil servants, including nurses and medical personnel in hospitals and educational sector in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT are yet to receive their February salaries stemming from suspected criminal activities within the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS.
Investigations indicated that operatives of the IPPIS diverted workers salaries to a group of suspected scammers, in the name of loans taken by the concerned workers from one David Chukwuma, claiming to own Micro Financial Institutions as accomplices.
It was gathered that the IPPIS, which was not party to the terms of the loan from Chukwuma and his alleged group of scammers handed over the workers salaries who were beneficiaries of the loan to the group.
The 15 fake loan Banks operated by the syndicate, include Loan Book, Credit Direct, Essential Finance MF, Accello Micro Fnances, Letshego MF, Zedvance MFB, Teago Global, Liquid Crest, Link MFB, Penny Lender MFB and a company called Hi-Breed Consultant Services Limited.
The alleged syndicating scammers were said to have given out various forms of loans to the workers based on private arrangements that had nothing to do with the IPPIS.
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However, the IPPIS without consulting with the workers, who were the loan beneficiaries, decided to pay the salaries of the concerned workers to the alleged scammers and for them to be paying the workers after deducting the agreed amount to service the loans.
Meanwhile luck ran out of the IPPIS and the syndicate when workers could not access their entire February salaries, in breach of agreement to deduct the loan servicing amount and paying them the balance.
It was gathered that the workers, last Monday, gathered at the Hi-Breed Consultant Services Limited to know what went wrong, but were told that David Chukwuma, who has been the principal actor in the scam was not an official of the Hi-Breed Consultant and efforts to reach Chukwuma on his mobile phone failed because he switched off the line.
A lawyer, who claimed to be representing Hi-Breed Consultant, Barrister Monday Ehimare Jeffrey, appealed with the aggrieved civil servants to give him time to fish out the culprit with a view to resolve the matter.
It was gathered that the worried civil servants have engaged an independent lawyer to confront the IPPIS on the propriety of handing over their entire salaries to a third-party without any formal consultation or written agreement.
The lawyer, Barrister Charles Audu is currently looking at the matter and promised to soon file the case in an Abuja Court against IPPIS.
Barrister Jeffrey have refused to respond to request in knowing his role in the whole scamming processes even as Chukwuma’s line has been unreachable.
Also, efforts to get the position of the IPPIS proved unsuccessful as the new Director is yet to settle down to know what actually happened before he took over.
Credible News.ng
