A civil servant and three other persons have been arrested by operatives of the Department of State Service over attempt to steal N4.5 billion from the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account.
The DSS in a statement by Tony Opuiyo on Tuesday said the civil servant, Uwem Udo Ekpo, a Chief Programme Analyst in the Office of the Accountant General of the Fedration, was working with a gang led by one Sunny Okoh, a hacker.
Others said to be in the gang were Maxwell Ekene, a retired security operative, and one Dozie Egwu, said to be based in Malaysia, but who is now at large.
The statement said the gang had concluded plans to hack the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System domiciled in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation in order to steal N4.5 billion.
The statement added: “The suspected fraudsters intended to use a software they had sourced and codes released to them by Ekpo to hack Government accounts in the Central Bank of Nigeria 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.”
The DSS said the suspects have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further investigations and prosecution.
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