A prosecution witness, Goji Mohammed, on Tuesday, February 21,
2017 gave a vivid explanation of how the operatives of Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC, conducted raid on the house of a former Chief of
Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, who is standing trial along Iyalikam Nigeria Limited
on a 10-count charge bordering on money laundering, criminal breach of trust
and corruption to the tune of N3.97 billion.
Badeh allegedly abused his
office as CDS by using the dollar equivalent of the sum of N1.4billion removed
from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force to purchase properties in choice
areas of Abuja between January and December, 2013.
Mohammed, who testified as PW15,
told Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja
that, he was a member of the Special Task Force, STF, team whose mandate was to
investigate cases reported to the Commission from the NSA’s office.
Led in evidence by Rotimi
Jacobs, SAN, Mohammed said, “I was instructed to conduct a search by the Head
of the STF ‘Team B’ on a property belonging to the defendant (Badeh) located at
No 2b Nelson Mandela Street, Asokoro Abuja”.
According to him, “In early
February 2016, the defendant was brought out of detention facility to witness
the search on his property and his assistant was also present. The search was
conducted and a lot of documents including landed property documents, bank
account document were recovered. We also discovered that some of the furniture
in the house contained the defendant’s name. We took record of the items after
which the Investigating Officer, IO, signed and the defendant counter-signed.”
The witness shed more light on
how the second search was conducted with the help of an intelligence report
received on another property belonging to the Badeh which is located at No. 6,
Ogun River street, Maitama, Abuja.
“In the report, there were allegations
of many cars including SUV salon parked within the premises of the building. Getting
to the building, we discovered it was empty, no cars, no security personnel”,
Mohammed said.
He explained how they entered
the house through the balcony as the front security door and the back door were
all locked. He also narrated how all the rooms were searched one after another.
“In the upstairs, we discovered the
biggest room which has a bed with side drawers and a large wardrobe. In one of
the wardrobes, at the upper compartment, there was a pack of kettle, as we
opened it, we saw the bag filled with money in Dollars (USD) and we counted the
money which is in 16 bundles of $50,000 each. We also found two sealed bundles
of $100,000 each, giving a total of one million dollars”, said Mohammed.
The PW15 told the court that a
red box containing a knife which had an encrypted name and 2 way bills of
furniture supplied to the building were also recovered. He added that the
security of the house was around when the search was conducted.
Jacobs sought to tender the
search warrant, red box as well as the 2 way bills in evidence but was objected
by counsel to the defendant, Lasun Sanusi, SAN, who prayed to be obliged with
copies of the documents and urged the court to adjourn the matter in order for
him to ask his client questions on it.
Responding, Jacobs argued that
the defence counsel had enough notice as it was number 20 on the list filed on
February 26, 2016. He craved the indulgence of the court to show the video clip
of how the search was conducted.
Furthermore, Sanusi opposed the
admissibility of the way bill and the red box. He urged the court to reject it
adding that they were irrelevant as the search was conducted without the
defendant in presence.
But, Jacobs cited Section 149
and 150 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2016 adding that, search
warrant is to be made in front of two witnesses and the person the warrant is
addressed to. He went further to explain how the witness can be any one in the
neighbourhood.
The case has been adjourned to
February 23, 2017 for continuation of trial.
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