The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission on Tuesday continued its case against a former Governor of
Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, with one of its detectives, Musa Sunday,
telling a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Gudu how the former
governor allegedly shared N1.162bn belonging to the state.
Dariye, who is now the senator
representing Plateau Central Senatorial District in the Senate,
allegedly obtained N1.162bn ecological funds as Governor of Plateau
State in 2004.
Dariye, who served between 1999 and
2007, is being prosecuted for allegedly diverting Plateau State’s
ecological funds while in office as governor.
Sunday, an investigator with the EFCC was cross-examined by Dariye’s lawyer, Garba Pwul (SAN) on Tuesday.
The detective who had earlier been led
in evidence by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN),
under cross-examination gave a breakdown of how Dariye allegedly
disbursed the N1.16bn to his political associates and officials of his
party, the Peoples Democratic Party, in Plateau State.
He said investigations by his team of
detectives revealed that the ex-governor gave N100m traced to a company –
Marine Float Nigeria Limited owned by former Vice-President, Atiku
Abubakar.
“The Ecological Fund Office is under the
Presidency but the Office of the Vice-President oversees it and the
vice-president chairs the agency’s activities. The vice-president at
that time was Alhaji Abubakar Atiku,” the witness said.
He also said N100m was traced to the
South-West PDP, which was received by then Minister of Special Duties,
Yomi Edu, N80m to then Permanent Secretary of the Ecological Fund Office
in the Presidency, Kingsley Nkoma; N10m to a former Deputy Senate
President, Ibrahim Mantu, N6.8m to the PDP Plateau State and N66m to 274
PDP wards in the state.
Sunday, who is the first prosecution
witness, read out the portion of the statement made by Dariye to the
EFCC where he confirmed the distribution of the money among his
political associates in a statement he wrote to the EFCC in July 2007.
When given Dariye’s statement to read,
the witness read from page 10 of the statement marked Exhibit P13(A)
which highlighted how Dariye gave a breakdown of how he disbursed the
N1.162bn received from the Ecological Fund Office.
“In the course of investigation, Marine
Float was found to be a company owned by the former Vice-President,
Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. As at when the money was paid, the Vice-
President was the Chairman of Ecological Fund Office,” the witness said.
He denied knowledge whether the N100m was recovered from Atiku.
When Pwul suggested to the witness that
the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, returned to Plateau State in 2004
the N100m paid to the South-West PDP by Dariye, the witness denied
knowledge of such development.
He added that investigation into the
issue revealed that Dariye paid N80m to the then Permanent Secretary of
the Ecological Fund Office, Kingsley Nkoma, “for facilitating the prompt
release of N1.62bn ecological funds to the state.
“The N80m paid in favour of Union
Savings and Loan, was traced to Kingsley Nkoma, Permanent Secretary of
Ecological Fund Office. 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 a
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 restated 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 N1.162bn 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, had since been
convicted by a Federal High Court in Kaduna for aiding fraud.
The trial judge, Justice Adebukola Banjoko, adjourned further hearing till noon on Wednesday (today).
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