Panel recommends dismissal of suspended SEC DG, prosecution by ICPC

An Administrative Panel of Inquiry set up by the Ministry of Finance has recommended the dismissal of the suspended Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mounir Gwarzo, from the Public Service.

The Panel also recommended that the suspended SEC director-general be referred to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission for further investigation of the allegation of using his position to influence the award of contracts to Outbound Investments Limited.

The report and recommendations of the API, headed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, were sighted by The Eagle Online on Tuesday.

The Panel, in the report which has been submitted to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, directed Gwarzo to refund N104,851,154.94, being the severance package he approved for himself and received.

It noted that the holding of the position of the director-general of SEC as well as a director in two private companies – Medusa Investment Limited and Outbound Investments Limited – was in breach of public service rule 030424, public service rule 030402 and Section 6 of the Investment and Securities Act, ISA 2007.

The recommendations by the Panel as stated in the report include:

Mr. Mounir Gwarzo should be referred to the ICPC for further investigation of the allegation of using his position as Director-General to influence the award of contracts to Outbound Investments Limited in view of the provisions of Sections 57 (12) (b) and 58 (5) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007;

. Gwarzo should be dismissed from the Public Service of the Federal Government, in line with PSR 030402 (in relation to the allegation on Golden Handshake), having breached paragraphs 313 and 316(4) of the Financial Regulations (Government Notice No. 219 of 27th October, 2009)(engaging in extra budgetary expenditure without appropriate approval);

. Should be discharged on the allegations of award of contracts to Medusa Investments Limited; award of contracts to other companies as mentioned in paragraph 5.1.1 and to which no relationship with Mr. Mounir H. Gwarzo was sufficiently established.

The Panel, however, recommended that the cases of two management officers of the Commission – Anastasia Omozele Braimoh and Abdulsalam Naif H. be referred to SEC for appropriate disciplinary action in line with the provisions of the Staff Manual of SEC.

The Panel advised the Federal Government to re-orientate public servants to the very fact that the Public Service Rules and Financial Regulations are ground norms of every Government Service Contract, be it at the Federal, State or Local Government levels.

It added: “Accordingly, all Government Extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies should be made to understand that the PSR and FR are superior to whatever specific legislations and domestic arrangements that guide their operations, except when such issues were not covered by any provision of the PSR.”

Credit: Eagle Online.