Whistleblowers Linked To DSS Raid Of PENCOM Head Office
The Department of State Service, DSS, yesterday, stormed the Pension Commission of Nigeria, PenCom, head office in Abuja, to ward off alleged illegal operations not in the interest of the key federal government agency holding billions of Naira in trust for Nigerians.
It was gathered that the raid by operatives of DSS followed a tip-off by whistleblowers that some sacked top officials of the commission who were relieved of their jobs last week, were allegedly tampering with vital financial records at the agency.
Apparently acting on the information, the DSS deployed its crack team to post sentry there and arrest those behind the nefarious operations.
However, by the time the security agents arrived the imposing office situated between Maitama and Wuse 2, a top official who had been sacked last week, reportedly went into hiding while others aiding the illicit alteration of documents were caught in the act.
A security source said those caught in the act would be treated as criminals if the allegations against them were established. But a top DSS official described what happened as a proactive measure to prevent fraud and not a raid.
According to the official, what they did was simply to prevent alteration of documents in the place and nothing more.
The source said, “We did not conduct any raid on PENCOM office. What we did was to put a standby team at the office to prevent anybody from tampering or altering any document unlawfully or without due process.
“We had information that some documents are being tampered with, some documents are being signed and back dated at the PENCOM office following the announcement of a new management of the commission.
“We are only being pro-active by ordering all officials there to stop forthwith any action on official documents pending when the new management will assume duty.” It will be recalled that the head of the management of Pencom was sacked along with 22 other federal government agencies on April 13, 2017, by the government which also announced their replacement same date.
However, it was alleged that some untoward activities were on-going at the Commission’s office while the new management is yet to assume work.
