The suspended Director-General (DG) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Mounir Gwarzo is said to have paid 44 members of staff of the commission N1,703,724,840.32 severance package that was not budgeted for in the 2015 SEC budget, finding has shown.
Presidency sources revealed that apart from this, he did not obtain approval from either the board or the Minister of Finance who supervises the commission to dole out the huge pay-out referred to as “golden handshake.”
It was learnt that the payments were in breach of financial guidelines in the public service as all expenditures have to be budgeted for and the budget approved by the National Assembly.
Two Directors benefitted from the “golden handshake”- one was paid N85.316 million, while the other got N84.650 million.
A total of 12 Deputy Directors who also benefitted from the handshake received an average of N70.5 million each; five Assistant directors received an average of N46 million each.
Sources said that documents received by the Administrative Panel of Inquiry (API) also detailed how Outbound Investments Limited, a company Mr. Gwarzo is said to be a director, was awarded several contracts by SEC, while he served as D-G of the commission.
The suspended D-G is said to be one of three directors of the company.
An analysis of transactions between the company and SEC indicated that Outbound Investment Limited was a diesel supplier to the commission.
It was learnt that Mr. Gwarzo tendered a letter via which he claimed to have resigned as a director of Medusa Investments Limited, another company in which he co-founded before the Administrative Panel of Inquiry which handled his case.
The letter he tendered showed that he resigned his position as a director on December 19, 2012.
It was learnt that In the course of investigations, the panel obtained a letter written by Mr. Gwarzo on July 24, 2015 to Medusa’s bank requesting for a replacement of the Account Officer.
He was also said to have written another letter on August 16, 2016, requesting that Naira Mastercards be issued on Medusa Investments Limited’s account for him and one other person, (name withheld), which contradicts his resignation claims.
