FIVE hundred and thirteen beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) have been linked to multiple account fraud, it was learnt.
The suspects, according to the PAP office, were linked to 1,370 accounts.
The development followed Tuesday’s protest by some ex-agitators at the premises of the National Assembly over the stoppage of their N65, 000 monthly stipends.
The PAP management said stoppage of the stipends was necessitated by the issues surrounding Bank Verification Numbers (BVN).
It explained that the fate of the protesting ex-agitators hang on the outcome of the ongoing investigation into multiple accounts of ex-agitators linked to one BVN.
Reacting to the claims of the protesting ex-agitators, Mr. Freston Akpor, spokesman to the PAP Interim Administrator, said all the names of those involved in the BVN fraud have been forwarded to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for investigation.
The PAP Office also blamed bank officials for colluding with the ex-agitators to aid the “financial crime”.
“So, investigation is ongoing and honestly I must tell you there is nothing the Presidential Amnesty Programme can do now over this matter until the investigation is concluded and then the ONSA will take a decision on what to do.
“This is a financial crime that is why the ONSA is investigating the matter. The policy is one name, one BVN. But in a situation where you have more than 30 names linked to one BVN, it becomes an issue.
“We discovered that 513 names were linked to 1370 accounts. And these are the people who have cases to answer. As it stands those who are protesting are the people who fall within those who have multiple accounts linked to their BVN.”
On the purported “gentleman agreement” with leaders of the ex-agitators to receive monies in bulk to pay the boys, he said “it is these same boys, so-called beneficiaries, who have also come to complain that when the money is collected by this so-called leaders, the money doesn’t trickle down to them”.