The
trial of a former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, continued on
Wednesday, October 12, 2016 before Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the Federal
Capital Territory( FCT) High Court, Gudu, Abuja, with a defence witness,
Stephen Igmala, acting General Manager, Plateau State Road Maintenance Agency,
denying knowledge of how equipment used by the Agency were procured.
Igmala,
while being examined by the defence counsel, G. S. Pwul, SAN, said: ‘‘I
started working in the Agency as a Principal Technical Officer in May 2000. I
have no idea about how, and when the equipment were procured. We received them
from the Ministry of Works in 2000, and are still using them till
date. We didn’t pay for the equipment; the state government did.’’
Under
cross-examination by the counsel to EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, Igmala, who told
the court that he became the Agency’s acting General Manager in June 2015, said
he was not a member of the Management of the Agency, previously known as
Plateau State Direct Labour Agency, when the equipment and vehicles listed in
the Exhibit D 18 that was tendered and admitted by the court were procured.
Igmala,
who is the fifth defence witness, DW5, in the ongoing trial, also told the
court that he had not bought any other equipment since he assumed office as
acting General Manager.
‘‘I
have only been buying diesel, petrol and engine oil through direct purchase
from the market,’’ he said.
However,
the prosecuting counsel pointed out to the court that the equipment as well as
the vehicles used by the Agency were more than what was captured in the Exhibit
D18 previously tendered and admitted by the court.
Answering
further questions from Jacobs, Igmala admitted that he had exceeded his
six-month acting period.
Justice
Banjoko, thereafter, adjourned to Thursday, October 13, 2016 for the further hearing.
Dariye
is being prosecuted by the EFCC for allegedly siphoning the state’s ecological
fund to the tune of N1.16 billion.
Also:
Witnesses Reveal How
Ex-UMTH Staff Siphoned N148m
Four
witnesses were presented on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, at the trial of two former staff of
the Department of Finance and Accounts, University of Maiduguri Teaching
Hospital, Borno State which commenced before Justice M. T. Salihu of the Federal High Court sitting
in Maiduguri.
The
accused- Mahmud Deji Sambo, a former Assistant Director and Bukar Musti, a
former Assistant Chief Accountant, are being prosecuted for fraud to the tune
of 148million.
They
were arraigned on Thursday, April 7, 2016 by
the EFCC.
In
his testimony, Muhammed Damba, PW1, who was led in evidence by counsel to EFCC, Abubakar Aliyu, told how Sambo
and Musti paid money to some individuals who were not staff of UMTH at various
times.
Damba,
a staff of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Maiduguri branch, told the court that,
the EFCC approached his bank requesting information about the hospital’s
account, which was obliged.
Aliyu
sought to tender the said documents but Sambo’s counsel, A. S. Badagubi, objected
to its admissibility.
Musti’s
counsel, Z. Hamaza, also aligned himself with Badagubi’s objection.
However,
their objection was over-ruled and the documents were admitted as exhibits.
Furthermore,
Damba gave a breakdown of how Musti received the following amounts of
money as salaries: N136, 000, 50 on 3rd April, 2008; N136,000.50 on 2nd May,
2008; N253,621,04 on 3rd June, 2008 and N135,420.04
on 25th June, 2008.
According
to him, other lodgments are: N246,230.65 on 23rd July, 2008; N280, 402.89
on 27th August, 2008; N379, 967.62 on September 22nd, 2008; N480,701.60
on 28th October, 2008 and N482, 000.62 on 27th November, 2008.
Others
are: N481, 141 .15 on 23rd December, 2008; N480, 889.76 on 2nd Feb, 2009; N450,
838.76 on 4th March, 2009; N480, 888. 76 on 2nd April, 2009; N749, 601.98 on 23rd
December, 2009; N399, 998.19 on 27th May, 2010; N300,001.14 as Teaching Arrears
2nd September, 2010 and N1, 000,000.00 was paid into his account as salary
Arrears on October 14th, 2010”.
Testifying,
Idris Sallau, PW2 told the court how EFCC requested for the mandates and
statement of three accounts.
Sallau,
a staff of Unity Bank Plc, said that, “we applied for the release of the
documents to our Head Office and it was approved. Thereafter, we forwarded the
account mandates and statement of accounts, including documents that emanated
from Tropical Commercial Bank Plc, now Unity Bank as requested”
The
two defence counsels objected to the admissibility of the documents but their
objection was again over-ruled and the documents were admitted as exhibits.
The
PW2 also gave a blow-by-blow detail of how the savings accounts of some
individuals, including Muhammed Shattima, Waziri Hajja Binti, were fraudulently
credited with different sums as salaries from the UMTH account.
Thereafter,
the matter was adjourned to Wednesday, October 12, 2016 for further hearing.
At
the resumed sitting today, the prosecution presented its third (PW3), Ibrahim
Adamu, Deputy Manager, United Bank for Africa, who told the court how his bank
gave EFCC information about three of its customers.
Documents
to that effect were presented and admitted as exhibits.
Also
testifying, Umar Salihu Yaro, PW4, a staff of FCMB, presented documents of
their customers requested by the EFCC and were admitted as exhibits.
Salihu
told the court that, monies were credited to various accounts of individuals from
the coffers of UMTH as salaries.
The
matter has been adjourned to Thursday, October 13, 2016 for continuation of
trial.
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