Metuh is being
prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly
receiving N400million (Four Hundred Million Naira) from a former National
Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), who is also being
tried for his involvement in the $2.1 billion arms deal.
Sa'id, a member of the team that investigated
the case, gave a blow-by-blow account of the activities carried out since the
Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) petitioned the Commission, which
include the following: a correspondence with Diamond Bank Plc to obtain
the mandate and statement of accounts for Destra Investment Ltd;
correspondences with other banks to obtain mandates and statements of accounts
of individuals and companies relevant to the case as well as letters to ONSA
and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to him, responses
from the CBN and ONSA confirmed that the former was given the mandate to pay
the sum of N400m to Destra Investment Limited for the purpose of security
services.
He said: "After the
payment of N400m by ONSA, a further N150m was paid into the same account by one
Kabir Ibrahim. Capital Field Investment Limited paid another N91m and another
N82m was paid in by one Eyitoye. These funds formed the Naira equivalent
of $2m, which Metuh gave to one Nneka Ararume, in cash.
"Amongst the disbursements made
were N77.5m paid to one Yomi Badejo through his company, CMC Connect Ltd, to
carry out campaign activities for the People's Democratic Party (PDP); N25m
paid to one Alhaji Abba Dabo to carry out media activities for the PDP; N21.7m
to Chief Anthony Anenih; N5m to Chief Kema Chikwe; N50m transferred to the
joint account owned by Olisa and Kanayo Metuh.
"The sum of N500m was also
discovered to have been transferred to Daniel Ford International Limited in two
tranches for the purpose of buying a landed property at Banana Island by the
1st defendant and his wife.’’
Saí’d, who further stated that the
team visited the residence of the first defendant and invited him to the
Commission during the course of the investigation, told the court how Metuh had
torn his statement into shreds, saying, ‘‘After he was interviewed, I asked him
if he wanted to volunteer his statement and he answered in the affirmative.
When he concluded writing his statement in four sheets of the Commission's
statement form, he handed them over to me. I read what had been written and
handed them over to my other team members to read. After that, I returned them
to him for endorsement. He endorsed the first sheet and the second sheet. When
he was about to endorse the third sheet, in which he stated that the money he
received from the office of the NSA were used for PDP campaign activities and
to settle his personal debt, to the surprise of the team, he suddenly tore the
sheet into pieces. The pieces of the torn sheet were then recovered from him
and registered as exhibits.
"Much later in the day, he
requested to volunteer an additional statement, which he did.''
After cross-examination of the
witness by the defence counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, the prosecution counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, then closed his case.
Ikpeazu prayed the court for
adjournment, stating that he needed the certified true copy of the proceedings
to open his defence.
However, Tahir objected to the motion moved by the defence.
After listening to both
counsel, Justice Abang stated that the record of proceedings was not ready for
certification, adding that it was not a valid reason for the defence to seek
adjournment in view of the evidence that had so far been presented by the
prosecution.
Consequently, the case was adjourned
to February 18, 2016 for the defence to open his case.
No comments:
Post a Comment