About 23,306 federal civil servants have been marked down by the federal government for thorough investigations and possible sanctions for allegedly defrauding the government of millions of naira every month through an organised salary fraud.

President Muhammadu Buhari has made the anti-corruption war one of the priorities of his administration.
According to The Punch, some banks would also be called to answer questions over their alleged role in the huge scam that has seen fraudulent payment of salaries to either ‘ghost’ workers or payments to multiple accounts of civil servants.

It was also learnt that some of those affected have tendered their resignation letters to pre-empt dismissal from service and prosecution.

A source told The Punch that of 312,306 civil servants, whose bank accounts have so far been checked through the Bank Verification Number (BVN) platform, 23,306 have issues with their accounts.

“These indicted individuals are in two categories. In the first group, we found out that the names of some civil servants, whose salaries are being processed, are different from the names on the accounts where their salaries are paid into. What this means is either those in this category are drawing salaries from two sources (which could be different parastatals), or they are ‘ghost’ workers.”

The Nation, citing a source, reports that the federal government has placed some banks under watch for their roles in the salary scam after the probe panel discovered that salaries were being paid into some inactive accounts, fueling the belief that the government had been paying salaries to ‘ghost’ workers.

Explaining the role of a particular bank, the source said: “The investigating committee discovered that in a particular branch of a bank, over 300 accounts of some civil servants were opened on the same day and all of them have become dormant.

“By the time the ongoing investigation is concluded, Nigerians will be shocked by the sheer number of top and other categories of civil servants, who may be forced to resign as a result of their complicity in the salary scam.”

Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has reiterated that the federal government will not spare persons indicted for corruption.

Osinbajo who stated this yesterday, February 3 in Ogun state said corruption has ravaged the nation’s economy and threatening the government’s plan to put in place necessary infrastructure.

Osinbajo guaranteed that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration would begin the implementation of all its campaign promises immediately the 2016 budget is signed into law.