Afraid Of Prosecution By ICPC:Senator Utazi Distributes N117m Constituency Project Items After Hiding Them For One Year

Chukwuka Utazi, a senator representing Enugu-North, has distributed items meant for constituency projects in his district following threats by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to prosecute him.

The ICPC had locked up the premises where Utazi kept items worth N117 million meant for his constituency.

The lawmakers had refused to distribute the items to his constituents.

However, accompanied by officials of ICPC, Utazi distributed transformers, grinding machines, tricycles, and motorcycles,.

As chairman of the anti-corruption committee in the 8th Senate, Utazi, who once boasted of being an anti-corruption champion, carried out oversight over the ICPC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other anti-graft agencies.

However, the ICPC said on Sunday the discovery of the constituency items was made during its Constituency Projects Tracking exercise.

The agency said the items covered by this amount and recovered from the legislator were 168 and 51 numbers of motorcycles and tricycles respectively.

“They were discovered to be stashed away in a compound in Mkpologu town of Uzo-Nwani Local Government Area, believed to be owned by the senator,” the ICPC stated.

The commission said it recovered 203 grinding machines and another 60 motorcycles and five transformers in the compound which had been procured under another constituency project.

The anti-graft agency subsequently impounded all the items and sealed the senator’s compound.

The ICPC said the tricycles, motorcycles and grinding machines were meant to be distributed to the lawmaker’s constituents to empower them as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to alleviate poverty.

“The senator has pledged to the ICPC that they would be distributed to beneficiaries on Tuesday, August 6, 2019,” the commission had said.

The ICPC findings indicated clearly that the contract for the procurement of the items was awarded on 23rd January 2018, under the Sustainable Development Goals as part of the senator’s constituency projects.

Some residents had, however, faulted the ICPC’s approach, insisting that Utazi should have been arrested for diverting constituency items.