?Abubakar Umar, the Sixth Prosecution
Witness, PW6, in
the trial of former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam has narrated
before the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja and presided over
by Justice Peter Lifu how in 2014, he converted the sum
of N3.1 billion, wired
to him by Suswam as governor and delivered its equivalent of $15.8m in cash to him at
his Maitama,
Abuja residence.
Suswan, alongside his then
Commissioner of Finance, Omodachi Okolobia are facing 11-count
amended charges of money laundering to
the tune of N3.1 billion, being
part of the proceeds
from the sales of the state
government’s shares held on its behalf by the Benue
Investment and Property Company Limited, sold through Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited.
During the court’s proceedings, the witness, a bureau
de change operator and CEO of Fanffash Resources, who has been testifying on the
matter since
2018, first, before
Justice A.R Mohammed and later Justice Okon
Abang, disclosed that the total sum of N3.1 billion was transferred to
him by Suswam, through a proxy in tranches with the first
tranche of N413 million hitting his account on August 8,
2014 and the remaining, coming in subsequently to sum up
to N3.1billion.
Umar, while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel,
Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, affirmed that the proxy who did the naira transfers to
him was a woman. According to the witness, he had to change
a total sum of N3.1billion to dollars, which he said amounted
to $15.8 million at the rate of N197 to a
dollar and delivered it to Suswam in his Maitama,
Abuja residence.
“One day in 2014, when I was in the office, the former
governor of Benue State asked me to meet him in his house in
Maitama, Abuja. I went and met him in the house together with one fair
woman. He asked me to give the woman my account number. I gave the woman my
Zenith Bank account number. The woman said she’ll send money into that account.
“On the 8th of August 2014, N413 million was transferred to my
account. Based on this, I called the former governor and he told me to
change the money to dollars and I asked him to give me time to do
that. Three days after I bought the dollar equivalent, I called the former
governor and informed him that the money was ready. He now asked me to take the
money to his house in Maitama, near Jumat Mosque. I now told him that
he should inform the security at the gate that I was coming, if not they’ll not
allow me access into the gate. I took a cab to the house, and after I arrived
at the house, I knocked at the gate and they opened. I told them my name. They
opened the first and second gates and I sat in the waiting room where he came
and met me. I now brought out the money which we both confirmed to be the
equivalent of the N413 million. The exchange rate then was N197”, he
said
Testifying further, he said, “On the 12th of September
2014, N637 million was transferred to my account.
After N637million was transferred to my account, after like 40
minutes N363 million was also transferred into my account. On
13th October 2014, N630, 008,50, (Six Hundred and
Thirty Million, Eight Thousand and Fifty Naira) was
also transferred to my account. On 17th October 2014
1,0068,000 (One Billion, Sixty-eight Million) was transferred to
my account. It is the woman that was directed by the former
governor to do the transfers. The total money transferred to my account
was N3 billion”.
The witness who stated that he was neither arrested by the
EFCC for giving any testimony in favor of the defendant, nor threatened by the Commission to give evidence against the
defendant, further disclosed that he did not have receipts for the
transactions, so also no record book for them, stating that he
buys dollars from his fellow retailers and only records based on
discretion.
Justice Lifu adjourned the matter till October 4,2024,
for continuation of trial.
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