Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has suspended one of his political aides, Mr. Abidemi Rufai, who was arrested by the FBI for over $350,000 employment fraud during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Kunle Somorin, disclosed this in a telephone chat with Vanguard while reacting to the news of Rufai’s arrest.
It would be recalled that “Rufai is accused of filing 102 jobless claims in Washington which is part of the $646 million the state lost to unemployment fraud in 2020”.
“Between March and October 2020, Rufai allegedly submitted dozens of unemployment claims using stolen identities, trying to get ESD to pay out more than $350,000 in benefits, according to court documents”.
“He used that single Gmail account to file 102 claims for ESD benefits, according to investigators. Rufai also used that account to file for benefits in 10 other states”.
“Between March 3 and Aug. 2, 2020, investigators say Rufai received $288,825 into a Citibank checking account – $236,701 of which was transferred out over the same time period. Funds were also paid out to online payment accounts or wired to bank accounts, which were then mailed to Rufai’s brother’s address”.
Somorin said, “We received the very disturbing news of the arrest of one of the Governor’s political appointees, Mr Abidemi Rufai in New York over alleged unemployment benefits and fraud in the United States, this morning”.
“While the governor cannot be held responsible for the actions of a full-grown adult, especially outside the jurisdiction of Ogun State and Nigeria, he has since suspended the suspect from office to enable him to answer the charges levelled against him”, he said.
He added, “the governor wishes to condemn any act capable of undermining his determination to institute an open, transparent, accountable and morally upright behaviour in the State and in governance”.
“Governor Abiodun remains committed to his agenda of Building Our Future Together and will not condone criminals either in his government or the state in general.
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