Mayowa Olumuyiwa
As controversies continue to trail the discovery of N4.3b allegedly lodged in an account in Zenith Bank by the Ondo State Government, the administration of former Governor Olusegun Agagu has been absolved of any complicity in the matter.
The Minister of State for Niger Delta, Chief Tayo Alasoadura, who served as Commissioner for Finance in the Agagu administration, said all bank accounts operated by the administration were in the name of Ondo State Government and all were on record.
According to him, the inability of the administration to properly hand over to the Olusegun Mimiko administration in 2009, due to the Court of Appeal judgement that sacked Agagu as governor, may have contributed to the error in documentation.
Alasoadura, who spoke in a telephone chat with Kaftan Post correspondent, blamed the bank for not calling the attention of the new administration to such account since the government operated accounts in all banks operating in the state, as a policy.
The minister recalled setting the record straight in 2009 to say that the Agagu administration left over N41.3billion in the treasury of the government as against a debt of N170billion being claimed by Mimiko at the time.
The funds left by the Agagu administration for the Mimiko administration, Alasoadura added, included funds amounting to N2.9billion, belonging to the local governments in the state.
Recall that KaftanPost earlier reported on how the Ondo State finance Commissioner was made to answer questions before the state House of Assembly over the alleged money kept in a secret bank account some 10 years ago.
In his submission, Alasodura however, commended the Akeredolu administration for discovering the account and the money but added that the House of Assembly has done the right thing by asking questions, especially on the interest that has accrued on the funds in the account since the bank must have traded with the money since the period.
