According to Punch, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has reopened investigations into the Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment tragedy in 2014, which led to the death of 19 young job seekers.
EFCC operatives on Monday quizzed the immediate past Comptroller General of the NIS, Mr. David Paradang, for over seven hours. Paradang was asked questions about the N555m said to have been collected from applicants who participated in the 2014 job seeking exercise.
The Nigerian Senate had in 2014 probed the tragedy but the report of the investigative committee did not see the light of the day before the seventh senate session ended.
The Punch reports that the EFCC invited Paradang to appear before it to provide explanation on how the money collected from job seekers in March 2014 was spent.
A top operative of the commission told one of the Punch correspondents on the condition of anonymity that the NIS under Paradang and those who played crucial roles in the ill-fated recruitment only declared N45m as the money collected.
The source said that investigations conducted by operatives of the commission revealed that the applicants paid N600m.
It was added that top officials of the Ministry of Interior and the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prison Services Board, only declared N45m as the amount collected.
Punch further reports that Paradang was said to have arrived at the Idiagbon House headquarters of the EFCC at Wuse II, Abuja, by 10 am and was taken straight to the interrogation room for a interrogation session that lasted seven hours.
Reports have it that as of 5pm, Paradang was still responding to questions from EFCC operatives probing the alleged fraud.
“The commission is probing the disappearance of N600m that was received from the applicants.
As things are, the EFCC might invite the immediate past Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, and other top officials of the interior ministry in relation with the issue.
Following the recruitment tragedy, former President Goodluck Jonathan directed the ministry to refund the N1,000 to the applicants, but the directive was not carried out by the ministry.