An
operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Ahmed
today told the Federal High Court, Abuja,
presided over by Justice E. S. Chukwu that former Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, used non existent companies to
divert public funds.
The
former speaker is facing a 16-count criminal charge bordering on contract
inflation and fraudulent embezzlement of public fund totalling N9 billion.
At the resumed
hearing of the case on May 28, 2013, the prosecution witness, Ibrahim Ahmed,
who was lead in evidence by EFCC counsel, Festus Keyamo said that in the course
of investigation, letters were written and sent to the Clerk of the House of
Representatives, banks where the House maintained accounts, and the Accountant-General
of the Federation for the details of the releases made to the Lower Chamber in
respect of 2010 capital budget. Ibrahim added that a letter was also written to
the Director-General of Bureau for Public Procurement for the current price of
items mentioned in the petition against Bankole.
Ibrahim
further told the court that from the responses, the contractors were identified
and a letter was sent to the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, to verify the
status of these companies.
The
prosecution witness further told the court that based on the response from CAC,
the investigative team decided to do a physical verification of the addresses
of the companies as stated in the CAC response. However, he said none of the
addresses was found to be genuine. Ibrahim gave the names of the non existent
companies as Multigate Resources Limited, Wadata Global Company and Chiwama
Nigeria Limited.
The
witness also revealed that based on investigation, the contractors were
discovered to have been paid.
Justice
Chukwu has fixed June 12-13, 2013 for further hearing.
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