Senate fumes as Ministry shuns probe of N4.3bn vouchers

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has flayed the Permanent Secretary, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Gabriel Aduda, over his failure to appear before it over the alleged N4.3bn hidden vouchers.

The committee, relying on a 2017 report of the Auditor-General of the Federation, said 289 vouchers under capital expenditure and 453 vouchers under overhead expenditure in sum of N3.05bn and N1.3bn respectively were hidden from auditors when requested.

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In a letter submitted to the committee dated March 15, 2021, Aduda said the ministry was still trying to compile the vouchers to present to the panel.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Matthew Uhroghide, said the issues raised against the ministry were grievous and gave Aduda 48 hours to appear before the committee.