GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS (PROTECTION) ACT, 1979 (AFRCD 58)

Any person who is responsible for the issue of any certificate on the basis of which any money has been paid out of public funds to or for the benefit of any contractor or other person in respect of any Government contract, shall be jointly and severally liable with that contractor or other person for the refund of any money so paid, to the Government, statutory corporation or other agency of Government by or on behalf of which the money was paid or to any other authority directed in writing by the Government— (i) if the person responsible for the issue of the certificate issued the certificate for the payment knowing that the work or service for which the payment was made or the goods for the supply of which the payment was made has not been performed or have not been supplied or that the money was not otherwise due under the contract in question; or (ii) if such person issued the certificate for the payment recklessly careless, whether the work had been done or not or the goods supplied or not or whether the money was otherwise due under the contract in question or not; or (iii) if in the issue of the certificate the person was grossly negligent.

(1) Without prejudice to the civil liability created by section 1 of this Decree any person guilty of any conduct described in that section and also any contractor or other person who knowingly accepts any payment made in any of the circumstances described in that section shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding three times the extent of the improper payment in question or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding ten years or to both. (2) Where in the case of any payment effected in any of the circumstances described in section 1 of this Decree it is proved that the person responsible for the certificate was bribed into issuing the certificate or that the issue of the certificate was otherwise attended by any corrupt practice, then both the person who gave the bribe and the person who accepted it and any other person who knowingly participated in the bribery or other corrupt practice shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a term of imprisonment not less than five years and not more than fifteen years; and in addition to a penalty equal to three times the amount of the improper payment in question.