Health
PROF. Chris Bode, chief medical director, CMD, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, has refuted allegations of financial impropriety levelled against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC. He said contrary to the ICPC report, the anti-graft agency sent a letter to his office, indicating it was investigating some allegations of violations of Code of Conducts, and LUTH was asked to submit some documents, which the hospital complied with.
In a statement made available to Realnews, Bode said the ICPC failed to present a copy of the allegations against him to LUTH. “LUTH was not given a copy of these allegations, although we requested for it. I have not been invited, neither have I been asked to respond to any of its findings. My bank accounts have not been frozen, contrary to lies published by the newspaper,” he said.
Bode said in December 2019, a group under a fictitious name, wrote a petition to LUTH Management Board, targeting him, alleging all sorts of falsities, which were considered and dismissed after due investigation at a Board meeting in February 2020. “I, therefore, deem it absolutely necessary to swiftly repudiate the allegations published against me to protect my family name and honour.
“Let me state outright that I have not been involved in any financial malpractice and I have not betrayed the confidence and public trust reposed in me by virtue of my position. My office received a letter by the ICPC informing us they were investigating some allegations of violations of codes of conduct and LUTH was asked to submit some documents, which we have since submitted.”
Speaking on suspension from approving LUTH TSA, Bode said the federal government withdrew all managing directors and chief executive officers from operating on the TSA REMITA Platform. “While they approve all financial payments, MDs/CEOs are no longer a part of the online platform. This function has been reserved for only Accounts personnel. This does not only apply to LUTH but all Federal institutions nationwide. However, the mischief makers chose to interpret that as only targeting LUTH CMD. This is verifiable.
“The present LUTH Administration has attracted and implemented many laudable far-reaching projects in the past 5 years almost to the tune of N10 billion from the private sector. Such significant projects such as the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre, the new Radiology Centre, the Blood Bank, various building donations were implemented through visionary leadership and scrupulous transparency that boosted investor and donor confidence in the hospital. The Independent Power Plant which makes LUTH the only Federal Tertiary Hospital with its own uninterrupted power supply nationwide was implemented under my stewardship.
“Each of these landmark projects was with the approval of relevant agencies and with the approval of the LUTH Board. I have never diverted any funds. It is therefore a shocker to see a slew of sordid things published by a newspaper without any attempt to ask for my views. Beyond the fact of the ICPC asking for some documents, all other things published by the Punch newspaper were deliberately malicious, calculated to bring my name into disrepute.
I have patiently ignored many such distractions till date in our quest to bring deeper, meaningful changes to a public institution which brought us up. While such spurious and fake news is part of what any leader must contend with, this one is a distasteful exception that goes into the realm of the absurd. I have therefore briefed my lawyers to seek appropriate redress for this willful and false defamation against my person,” he said.
ICPC had, in a publication in a national newspaper, said the commission was investigating the CMD over alleged “budget splitting, reckless spending and diversion of funds in the hospital.”
– Aug. 11, 2020 @ 9.45 GMT |
Tags: LUTH CMD denies allegations of financial recklessness
