Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed of a
Federal High Court in Abuja was on Tuesday told how the former
chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Haliru Mohammed Bello and his
son. Abba squandered the sum of N300 million of the $2.1 billion of the fund
mearnt for the purchase of arms to fight the Boko Haram insurgents in the
country.
A prosecution witness and a detective
with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ruqayya Ibrahim, who
was led in evidence by the counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) topld the
court that she was part of the special task force that investigated the
allegations against Haliru and his son.
According to the witness, who
attached to the forensic accounting unit of the anti-graft agency as an
analyst, investigation into the matter revealed that there was a letter dated 2nd March,
2015 from the ministry of finance, requesting the sum of N300 million from the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for expenditures and that N30 million out of the
said amount was for the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for
security issues.
The witness said on 3rd March last
year, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) wrote to the Ministry of
Finance in respect of the N30 million and added another N31 million that has
nothing to do with ONSA and added further that that the AGF wrote to the
CBN on the 6th of March, 2015, authorising the release of the
N30 million, which was paid into ONSA account with the CBN in March last year.
Ruqayya told the court that, n the same
month, N300 million, was transferred into the account of Bam Project and
Property Limited with Sterling Bank Plc from Jabbama_ada Global services
Limited.
“Our analysis revealed that, on 17th March,
N300 millio=uion was credited into Bam Project and Property Limited (a company
owned by Abba Bello) account with Sterling Bank Plc from ONSA”.
She said the money was paid into Abba’s
company account on the instruction of his father, the former PDP chairman, the
third defendant in the matter, adding also that, “the payment was made as a
result of Bello Haliru, supplying the name of the company to Bashir Yuguda, a
former Minister of State for Finance for the purpose of payment for the
PPD’2015 election.
“In the course of investigation, we found
out that the disbursement of the money was made to two companies, Kumo Gono
Limited got N137 million and North Pole Limited received a little over N163
million and on March 26, 2015, Abba Bello, the owner and sole signatory of Bam
Project, made a cash withdrawal of N20 million in two tranches of N10 million
each.
On 28th March, Abba Bello paid N50
million to the Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS) for the purpose of
mass housing development and another transfer of N2 million to Julius Beger Plc
was made for the supply of furniture to his client”, the witness added.
Ruqayya, while been led in evidence by the
prosecution witness, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) said Abba admitted that the money paid
into the account of his company were on the instruction of his father for the
purpose of PDP election.
She said Abba confessed that his
company, Bam Project did not carry putr any contract for ONSA, adding that the
transfers made to to Kumo Gomo, North Pole and Hijra Textiles wetre on the
instruction of his father for PDP campaign activities. The former PDP chairman
who was arraigned with his son and their com-pany, Bam Projects and Property
Limited over their alleged involvement in the $2.1 billion arms deal were granted bail on January 7,
2016 by the trial Judge.
They both pleaded not guilty to the charges
preferred against them by the EFCC.
Source: Tribune
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