Although the panel admitted that it collected N10 million from the ministry to facilitate its members' retreat in Ghana between March 16 and 20, this year, it insisted that the money was not from the controversial unused budget.

Also yesterday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said that its invitation to the House of Representatives Committee on Health on the N300 million scam was informed by the outcome of its preliminary investigation into the matter. The commission said there was need to get more details from the panel.

In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, the Secretary of the embattled Senate panel, Mr. I. E.F. Edobor, declared that the committee did not act outside the Senate Code of Ethics in accepting the money from the ministry. He added that the Senate President was duly informed of the decision of the panel to seek such funds from the ministry.

There were also indications yesterday that the Senate leadership has summoned members of the panel to appear before it to explain their role in the unreturned public funds.

In its defence, the committee refuted reports that it took part in the sharing of the money allegedly spent on dubious projects in total disregard of a presidential directive that all unspent appropriated funds before December 2007 should be returned to the treasury.

Last week, the two health ministers at the centre of the controversy, Prof. Adenike Grange and Mr. Gabriel Aduku, resigned in accordance with President Umaru Musa Yar' Adua's directive.

Since then, the duo have been keeping dates with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the issue.

Four directors and the permanent secretary of the ministry have also been suspended by the Federal Government over the saga.

Grange was alleged to have received between N5 million and N10 million from the loot but she has insisted that she is innocent.

The statement by the Senate panel read in part:

"The Senate Committee on Health would like to state as follows:

That the committee was not a beneficiary of any Christmas bonus or Christmas gift or indeed any other gift from the Federal Ministry of Health;

that contrary to all the speculations, the committee was in no way involved in any alleged money sharing; and

that the committee however acknowledges some funding from the ministry specifically meant to support the retreat in Ghana which was planned to review and conclude the National Health Policy Bill pending since the last Senate. This is an Executive Bill. The committee notes that support of the retreat by the Federal Ministry of Health is totally in consonance with Senate Rules (Rule 3 of the Senate Code of Ethics)."
Interestingly, the committee said it strictly complied with the aspect of the code of ethics which required it to, among others, notify the Senate President in writing disclosing the purpose, sponsors and duration of such travel or trips.

Edobor stated that "the extent of the ministry's support was N10 million and was received and duly signed for by the committee's secretary in Decemeber."

A source within the National Assembly said yesterday that following the controversy generated by the issue, the Senate leadership has asked the panel's leadership to brief it on the money it got from the ministry.

The House of Representatives Committee on Health, which also collected the same amount from the organisation, last week returned the money to the health ministry, claiming that it never knew that the money was part of the N300 million unspent budget.

On the incident, the EFCC said after it presented the preliminary report to the executive, two ministers in the ministry were forced to leave while some of the directors were suspended. The preliminary report, it added found its way back to the commission for more investigation into the fraud

"Based on that, the House Committee members of the ministry of health are expected here today (yesterday). It is another leg of the investigation after the two ministers indicted in the preliminary report turned in their resignation. It is in the bid to get a more robust detail that will make the final report," a source said.

However, it stressed that it had already shifted the case files to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice for commencement of prosecution.

Last Wednesday, Obasanjo Bello was quizzed by the EFCC over the unspent fund

However, there was no trace of the presence of the House Committee members at the EFCC building in Abuja.

The members said they failed to present themselves for questioning at the Head of Operations Unit of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as scheduled because they were awaiting the House consent to do so.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON), Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe, has said the Senate Committee on Health went to Ghana to understudy the country's health system.

Oloriegbe, in an interview with The Guardian in Abuja yesterday, said it was not the first time National Assembly committees would be going abroad for such exercises.

While not holding brief for the Senate panel over its role in the scam, Oloriegbe said that the N10 million collected for the Ghana trip was not part of the unspent money.