A fresh twist may be emerging over the intrigues  and business deals by presidency topguns before the 2011 presidential elections . Newsdiaryonline has learnt that two topshots  in the presidency are under very discreet probe over their alleged links to at a list   a Spanish contractor whose company  was involved in the printing of ballot papers for the last general elections.It was not immediately clear if links with any other contractor has been  ascertained yet by the investigators.

Though the names of the officials are known to those conducting the probe, Newsdiaryonline sources  said their identities are being kept  as guarded secrets in order not to let the cat out of the bag yet. But it was learnt that one of them actually struggled to regain his job recently while a second person is very close to President Goodluck Jonathan.

The two topshots  in collaboration with a Spanish businessman named Angel Prado Ruiz  are the subjects of a discreet investigation by presidency over allegations of contract inflation in the printing of ballot papers for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s use in the last presidential elections.The men were alleged to have connived to seal a deal using the Spanish businessman’s company which sources variously called Tip Tree   or  Tip3.

Newsdiaryonline learnt that investigators have so far  gathered that the Spanish businessman was introduced to INEC topshots  by the two officials from the presidency who are being probed now.It was also learnt that investigators have shockingly discovered that the Spanish contractors was a just a front for the Aso Rock masters in the execution of the contract and related  developments- which a source say may border on money laundering.

It was also further learnt that even the credibility of the Spanish front is being questioned in the course of the on-going  investigation .Sources said it has been discovered that the Spanish businessman  has a previous case of arrest and detention  in relation to fraud and 419  cases in Nigeria .He was  also said to have been detained at the Ikoyi Prisons  Lagos in 1996.

Thisday Newpaper was among  the  first to reveal the identities of the companies which got the contracts to print the ballot pa[pers. “The identities of the six firms and their facilitators contracted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to print ballot papers, result sheets and other sensitive materials for the 2011 general election were ..unravelled by THISDAY’’ the paperreported earlier.

Continuing , the Thisday  said: “They were Tip3, a Spanish company represented by Hashim Dikko, and Graphic Inline (Gi) with Sanni Lamido as proxy. Also on the list were Kalamazoo, represented by Dick Jackson, a Nigerian-Briton married to a lady from Kano; Aero-vote represented by one Yerima; and SanFrano, a German/Polish company represented by Sanni Musa. The sixth company that benefited from the printing contract was VI Solutions, sponsored by Yahaya Sani. SanFrano, according to investigation, was the firm that went to China to print the papers but failed to deliver on time for the April 2 elections.

According to Thisday, “the six contractors received over N13 billion for the printing of the 75 million ballot papers and result sheets for each of the elections. The contracts were awarded to the companies by INEC in late February this year, according to investigation.
Going by the terms of the contract, each of the companies was expected to print 75 million ballot papers and result sheets for the elections in respect of the National Assembly, presidential, governorship and state assembly elections. The number of registered voters is 73 million.’’

It added that ,“THISDAY gathered that 75 million copies for the main presidential election and another 75 million copies for a run-off, totalling 150 millon were authorised by Jega and awarded to Tip3 Company, the Spanish firm.It was also leant that the Nigerian partners of Tip3, having assessed the volume of work involved in their contract, made representation to the commission that given the time constraint, they could not guarantee timely delivery of the job, but INEC was said to have urged them on.

Even more, the paper said ,“THISDAY investigation also showed that the Spanish firm being naïve about the importance of the job, went ahead to print the run-off election papers first and returned the job on the main election to INEC on March 23 with the excuse that it could no longer handle it.’’