The trial of a former Group Managing
Director GMD, Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Andrew Yakubu continued on January 16, 2018 before
Justice A. R. Mohamed of the Federal High Court Abuja with the EFCC’s third
witness telling the court how foreign currencies believed to be proceeds of
crime were recovered in a fireproof safe in an apartment belonging to the
former NNPC boss in Kaduna.
The witness, Ahmed Yahaya, an operative of
the EFCC Kano Zonal Office gave details of how he came across the $9,772,500
and 74,000 pounds sterling in the said apartment.
He said, "On 3rd February, 2017 my Head
of Operations called me and informed me that a team of operatives attached to
Intelligence Special Operations Section (ISOS) are coming from Kaduna on
special assignment and they are coming back with a fireproof cabinet safe and that
I should make arrangements for collecting the exhibits recovered by the team.
“At about 1830HRS, the team arrived with the
recovered exhibits and the caretaker of the said exhibits by name, Bitrus
Yakubu.
"The recovered fireproof safe made by
'Gubabi' which was opened by experts contained monies. The monies were counted
in the presence of the investigating team, including the Zonal Head of Operations,
Deputy Zonal Head of Operations and the said Bitrus Yakubu.
"At the end of the counting, a total
sum of 97,725 pieces of 100 notes of United Stated Dollars was discovered
valued at $9,772,500m; 6 pieces of 50 notes of U.S Dollars valued at $300 and
1,480 pieces of 50 notes of sterling pounds valued at 74,000 sterling pounds were
found in the safe”.
Yahaya further told the court that the monies
were duly packaged and registered in the court exhibit register. He added that,
on February 13, 2017, he received a court order by the Legal Department and
investigating team informing him of the interim forfeiture of the recovered
amount.
He also told the court that after all
relevant investigations, the whole monies were carried to CBN Kano Branch on
March 17, 2017 for safe keeping and the monies were also counted by CBN experts
and the bank issued certificate of delivery which was duly signed by both staff
of EFCC and CBN.
The safe, which is already an exhibit; the
interim order made by the Federal High Court, Kano; the exhibit registration
form and the certificate of delivery were identified by the witness and
admitted in evidence.
Under cross-examination by Yakubu's counsel,
Ahmed Raji, SAN, Yahaya told the court that he did not know if any insurance
policy was taken by EFCC against the money apart from the certificate of
delivery given to EFCC which serves as gate way to the money.
When asked how safe the money was in CBN, he
said, “as far as I am concerned, the monies are safe in the CBN, although I don’t
know the day-to-day running of the bank.
Yakubu, is facing trial on a six-count
charge, bordering on money laundering and false declaration of assets.
It would be recalled that, on the 3rd day of
February, 2017, operatives of the EFCC had stormed a building belonging to the
former NNPC boss and recovered a staggering sum of $9,772,000 (Nine Million,
Seven Hundred and Seventy Two Thousand United States Dollars) and £74,000
(Seventy Four Thousand Pound Sterling) stashed in a huge fire proof safe.
Yakubu, who admitted to be the owner of the
monies, claimed it was gifts given to him by friends and well wishers and also
savings accumulated over a period of years.
The case has been adjourned to February 28
for further trial.
No comments:
Post a Comment