The property were said to have been acquired
by the Newspaper firm in 1974 from the former State Housing Corporation, now
Cross River State Property Investment Company Limited (CROSPIL).
Our
correspondent gathered that, already, the management of the State
Newspaper
Corporation has placed a Caveat Emptor on the two properties which are used for
the accommodation of the senior editorial and admin staff.Our reporter also learnt that the management is saying that it had at no time contemplated the sale of the property.
Impeccable
sources at the Corporation said the lid of the alleged illegal deal was blown
open by the 6-member inventory committee instituted to collate the moveable and
immoveable assets of the Corporation.
Our sources explained that the committee in
its findings discovered at State Ministry of Finance that the two houses were
sold to the buyers at the cost of #7.5 million each by the former Commissioner
for Lands, Surveyor Ralph Uche, following the alleged approval of former
Governor Liyel Imoke.
A member of the committee who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the story but said the committee could not sight the purported application that the former governor approved.
Further checks by our reporter at the Ministry of Lands and Housing indicated that it was not the responsibility of the ministry to transact the sale of the houses since it does not custody any document about the property.
It was learnt that CROSPIL has been custodians
of the property since 1974 and would have been the one to sale the property on
behalf of the corporation as its agent.
Our reporter was also informed that the
corporation had been paying ground fee to CROSPIL, while the occupant pay rent
to the corporation.
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