The Senate has indicted the Federal Ministry of Justice for its alleged failure to show how the N10.4 billion judgment debt was disbursed to the beneficiaries.
The indictment of the ministry was a sequel to the consideration of the 2017 and 2018 reports of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, SPAC, chaired by Senator Mathew Uhroghide (PDP Edo South).
The Red Chamber, therefore, ordered the ministry to stop further disbursement of the judgment debt and demanded that the committee responsible for the disbursement should be re-constituted and evidence forwarded to the Auditor-General of the Federation, and SPAC within 30 days.
According to the Auditor-General’s report, the committee saddled with managing the disbursement of the judgment debt was dissolved in 2013.
It stated that when the N10.4 billion was disbursed by the Ministry of Justice in 2017, the committee had yet to be reconstituted.
The report added that lack of control, as witnessed in the disbursement of the judgment debt, could lead to a loss of public funds.
In the report, the Auditor-General, however, recommended that the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice immediately constitute the committee as required by law.