The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested a civil servant and three others over plot to steal a whopping N4.5 billion from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
In a statement on Tuesday, Tony Opuiyo of the DSS said Uwem Udo Ekpo, a Chief Program Analyst in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, connived with a hacker, Sunny Okoh; Maxwell Ekene, a retired security operative and Dozie Egwu, based in Malaysia to defraud the federal government of the huge amount.
The suspects, Opuiyo said have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC for prosecution.
“The modest success of the Service in its support to the Federal Government to achieve its desired economic objectives and stability may also be noted.
“To this effect, the DSS have arrested a group of fraudsters who had concluded plans to hack the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) domiciled in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation in order to steal Four Billion, Five Hundred Million Naira (N4.5b) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
“The suspected fraudsters intended to use software they had sourced and codes released to them by EKPO to hack Government accounts in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and defraud the Government of this huge sum.
“It is instructive to note that a credibility problem would have arisen over the TSA policy if these hackers had succeeded in their plan and thus lend credence to the critics of the policy that it ought not to have been introduced and implemented. For the avoidance of doubt, the suspects have been handed over to the EFCC for further investigations and prosecution,” Opuiyo stated.
