THISDAY newspaper reported that Illo was asked by the SSS operatives to explain how the 12.6 billion naira (about US$ 85 million), allocated for the 22-day football fiesta, was spent.
Also under the SSS searchlight are chairmen of the 15 sub-committees.
The SSS operatives were also reported to have visited the office of the Minister of Sports, Mr. Sani Ndanusa, on Friday.
THISDAY reported that the probe was initiated following complaints by some LOC members who were unhappy with the way the funds were handled.
In its own report, the TRIBUNE newspaper captioned the story "Nigeria â~09, FIFA U-17 World Cup Fall-out: Panic grips LOC Sub-seats".
It said that following demands for the probe of the activities of the LOC, some of the sub-seats chairmen are already jittery over what will be their fate.
According to the paper, the LOC boss (Illo) said recently that the LOC was not afraid of being probed by the Government following Vice President's Jonathan Goodluck's statement that a probe was in the offing.
However, panic has gripped most of the sub-seats Committee members who are reportedly already running up and down to put their finances in order so as to block loopholes.
TRIBUNE quoted sources within some of the sub-seats as saying that large sums of money, running into millions of naira, were collected from the Abuja main LOC but were diverted to personal use and other frivolities.
For instance, volunteers at the championship were not paid their full allowances and some contracts for which estimates were made and disbursed, were not executed.
According to the sources, some of the sub-seats chairmen also claimed and drew outrageous salaries and allowances.
The Nigerian team to the championship, the Golden Eaglets, lost the cup they won in Korea in 2007 to debutants Switzerland 1-0.
Lagos - 22/11/2009
Pana
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