The report on the investigation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) under the leadership of its former director general, Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, showed that in 2008, the Exchange spent N186 million to buy Rolex watches for long serving employees.
The yet-to-be officially released report, a product of investigations by KPMG, an audit firm, and Aluko Oyebode & Co., a legal firm, revealed that “at the beginning of 2008, the NSE expended the sum of N45 million in purchasing 64 Rolex watches for presentation to employees who had served the NSE for 10 years.”.....
The report also noted that “later in the same year, Candy Floss Limited (a company owned by Yinka Idowu, former head of NSE’s corporate affairs department), was given N95 million for an additional purchase of 91 Rolex watches, and subsequently, after the award ceremony, another 10 Rolex watches at the cost of N46 million were purchased.”
Meanwhile, the investigators said they observed that the award ceremony document showed that only 73 out of the 165 Rolex watches purchased were actually presented to the awardees, meaning that 92 Rolex watches valued at N99.5 million were unaccounted for.
“We further observed that the schedule containing the list of staff members eligible for long service awards only contains 63 names; suggesting that 10 additional and unauthorised people received presentations,” the report added.
Car gifts
Furthermore, Candy Floss Limited, according to the report, was given N100 million to purchase 14 cars to be presented to employees who had served the NSE for 25 to 30 years.
At the same time, the report said that three cars purchased by the NSE in January and March 2008 for N59 million - one Land Cruiser purchased for N30 million, and two Lexus cars purchased for N29 million -were written off the NSE books at the end of the same year by their allocation to the Long Service Award account, as part of the gifts given during the ceremony.
Meanwhile, the award ceremony document showed that only seven people were presented with cars, compared to the 14 cars which were to be purchased by Candy Floss Limited and the three additional cars written off; meaning that 10 cars, valued at approximately N66 million, were unaccounted for.
The auditors also revealed that “although Candy Floss Limited was given the sum of N50 million for the special presentation to employees who had worked with the NSE for 25 to 30 years, another sum of N55 million was again disbursed in respect of the special presentation, which was to include a luxurious jeep and a special gift of the former director general’s choice.
“This suggests that there was a duplication of payment and a double purchase of a luxury car for the former director general’s choice,” the auditors said.
Further investigations
While the fact that Articles 52 of the NSE Employee Handbook for Management and Senior Staff, as well as Article 55 of the Employee Handbook for Junior Staff limits the value of gifts/cash that can be given to employees for the long service award, the auditors said, “We observed that the gifts awarded/presented far exceeded the value stated in these handbooks, “adding that “these Articles further stated that these awards should be presented to only members of staff, but we observed that former members of staff were also given awards.”
However, the auditors said further investigations to be carried out in respect of the award will determine if any payments were made by Candy Floss Limited to the accounts of NSE officers, including that of Mrs. Okereke-Onyuike.
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