The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered two additional fake federal agencies set up by a syndicate inside the government. The phantom bodies, named the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, were created using forged legislative documents to run illegal operations.

This discovery emerged during an ongoing probe into Adeniyi Matthew Adeyemi, the self-proclaimed Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC). ICPC Chairman, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, disclosed the fresh details on Thursday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja after presenting an interim report to President Bola Tinubu.

Investigators established that the entire PFIPC operation was a fraud, as Adeyemi was never appointed by the Federal Government. The council itself had no legal backing, having never been created by an Act of the National Assembly or any executive order.

Armed with a forged appointment letter, Adeyemi and his syndicate unlawfully took over the offices and official instruments of the defunct Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC). Operating directly from the former PEAC headquarters, the group engaged in impersonation and false representation by exploiting weak verification links between government organs.

To expand their reach, Adeyemi later altered the name of the illegal body from the Foreign Investment Promotion Council to the Foreign Intervention Promotion Council. The ICPC revealed that this tactical name change was specifically aimed at widening the fake agency`s scope to include illegal revenue generation.

Despite the sophistication of the operation, the ICPC confirmed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and State House financial networks remained secure. The interim findings showed that no public funds were approved or disbursed to the fake PFIPC or PEAC accounts, ruling out systemic financial breaches.

However, the probe exposed deep institutional rot, naming key officials across major government offices as active collaborators. The implicated workers span the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

Other accomplices were traced to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Budget Office, and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The anti-graft agency has now recommended the immediate prosecution of Adeyemi and strict disciplinary action against all compromised civil servants.

Dr. Aliyu stressed that the investigation is still ongoing and more details are being gathered to file comprehensive criminal charges against the suspects. Receiving the report, President Tinubu reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to transparency and vowed to ensure absolute accountability in resolving the matter.