Four about three hours Tuesday, a witness in the trial of former Plateau State governor, Joshua Dairye gave details of how he allegedly shared to political associates the sum of N1.162billion he obtained from the Ecological Fund in the name of the state.
Reeling out names and figures from documents submitted to the court, including Dariye’s statement made to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the witness, Musa Sunday explained how Dariye allegedly shared the N1.162b he obtained in 2004 as a governor.
Dariye, who served between 1999 and 2007, is being prosecuted for allegedly diverting Plateau State’s funds while in office as governor.
Sunday, an investigator with the EFCC was cross-examined by Dariye’s lawyer, Garba Pwul (SAN).
He said investigations by his team of investigators assigned to the Dariye case, revealed that the ex-governor gave N100m to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who was then the coordinator of the Ecological Fund; N100m to South-West PDP, which was received by then Minister of Special Duties, Yomi Edu, N80m to then permanent Secretary of the Ecological Fund agency in the Presidency, Kingsley Nkoma; N10m to former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, N6.8m to PDP Plateau State and N66m to 274 PDP wards in the state.
Sunday, who is the first prosecution witness, read out where Dariye confirmed the distribution of the money among his political associates in a statement he wrote to the EFCC in July 2007.
“The Ecological Fund is under the Presidency, but the Office of the Vice President oversees it and Chairs the Funds activities. The Vice President at that time was Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.
When given Dariye’s statement to read, the witness read from page 10 of the statement marked exhibit P13 (a) how Dariye gave a breakdown of how he disbursed the N1.162b received from the Ecological Fund
The witness said Dariye informed him that gave Senator Mantu, who was then a Deputy Senate President, N10m; PDP, Plateau State, N6.8m, while N66m was distributed 274 wards of PDP in the state.
Sunday also read from page 11 of the statement, where Dariye said the N100m given to PDP Southwest was received by Yomi Edu (then Minister for Special Duties), while the N100m paid to Marine Float Limited, was given to Vice President Atiku.
“In the course of investigation, Marine Float was found to be a company owned by the former President, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. As at when the money was paid, the Vice President was the Chairman of Ecological Fund,” the witness said.
He denied knowledge whether the N100m was recovered was recovered from Atiku.
When Pwul suggested to the witness that the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo returned to plateau State in 2004, the 100m paid to the South West PDP by Dariye, the witness denied knowledge of such development.
He said further investigation on the issue also revealed that Dariye paid N80m to the then Permanent Secretary of the Ecological Fund, Kingsley Nkoma N80m “for facilitating the prompt release of the N162b.
“The N80m paid in favour of Union Savings and Loan, was traced to Kingsley Nkoma, Permanent Secretary of Ecological Fund. We recovered the N80m from Nkoma, who said that was his share for facilitating the release of the money. That was the bribe he collected.
“Investigation proved, while he was invited, that the N80m paid to him through Union Savings and Loan was bribe money paid to him by the defendant. The money was recovered from him. The N80m registered from Nkoma is registered as Exhibit and it is with the EFCC. When we invited him, Nkoma said that that was his share of the money and he was made to return it.”
The witness reiterated his earlier claim that Dariye made his banker, All States Trust Bank (now defunct) to conceal his identity. He said their investigation revealed that the mandate card for the account allegedly operated by a firm linked to Dariye – Ebenezer Ritnan Venture – did not carry anybody’s photograph as required. He said they were able to uncover the company’s true ownership by Dariye’s signature on the mandate form.
He said Dariye allegedly diverted his share of the N1.162b into the company’s account.
The witness said the bank and its officials, who claimed to have granted Dariye waiver by not including his photograph in the account opening documents, have since been convicted by a Federal High Court in Kaduna for aiding fraud.
“In the course of investigation, we found the waiver granted Dariye not to be proper, and as a result, the maker, the Account Officer, A. Awe Odesa was charged before the FHC, Kaduna. The issue of the waiver was part of the charge.”
The trial resumes Wednesday at 12 noon.
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