The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has submitted an interim report to President Bola Tinubu on its investigation into the alleged fictitious Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), recommending the prosecution of its alleged Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi.
Gatekeepers News reports that ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu disclosed this on Thursday after meeting President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, exactly 30 days after the President directed the anti-corruption agency to investigate the activities of the disputed organisation.
Aliyu said preliminary findings showed that Adeyemi was never appointed by the Federal Government and that the purported appointment letter, gazette and other documents used to present the PFIPC as a government agency were forged.
The investigation centres on allegations of corruption, forgery and impersonation involving the PFIPC, which the Presidency has since disowned.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the ICPC chairman said investigators found that weaknesses in government verification, oversight and inter-agency coordination were exploited to create the false impression that the PFIPC was a legitimate government institution.
“Our interim report found that there are weaknesses in verification, inter-agency oversight and government processes. We discovered that those weaknesses were exploited by Adeniyi, with some level of negligence.
“Our investigation found that no Federal Government funds were approved or disbursed to the fake PFIPC/PEAC,” Aliyu said.
He revealed that the commission also uncovered two additional entities allegedly created by Adeyemi—the FCT Investment Promotion Agency (FIFA) and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership (PIPA-PPP).
According to Aliyu, the alleged mastermind relied on forged legislative instruments presented as enabling laws to legitimise the agencies and facilitate the opening of bank accounts.
ICPC Recommends Prosecution, Reforms
Aliyu said the commission recommended that Adeyemi be prosecuted and that disciplinary action be taken against public officials whose negligence enabled the illegal operation of the fake agency.
He also called for institutional reforms to strengthen internal controls across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to prevent similar incidents.
“Our recommendation is that Mr Adeniyi Adeyemi should be prosecuted. Administrative sanctions should also be imposed on public officers whose acts of omission and negligence facilitated the illegal operation of PFIPC/PEAC.
“There is also a need for institutional reforms so that the internal controls of MDAs can be strengthened to prevent this kind of illegal activity,” he said.
The ICPC chairman stressed that the report submitted to the President was only an interim report, noting that investigations are ongoing to identify additional collaborators and build a stronger criminal case.
“We have continued with the investigation of the activities of Mr Adeniyi Adeyemi and his collaborators so that we can unravel more facts and file criminal charges that can stand the test of time before a court of competent jurisdiction,” he added.
The PFIPC controversy gained national attention after the Presidency declared the council a non-existent government agency despite its inclusion in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation of ₦1.3 billion.
The Federal Government has since filed criminal charges against Adeyemi over allegations of forgery, impersonation and fraudulent misrepresentation, while separate investigations by the House of Representatives and the ICPC are continuing into how the alleged fake agency operated within government institutions.
