A former Accountant-General of the
Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, on Tuesday opened his defence in the
trial-within-trial in an Abuja High Court.
Idris was dragged before Justice Yusuf Halilu, by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside Geoffrey Akindele;
Mohammed Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited .
The EFCC dragged them on a 14-count charge, alleging
that they fraudulently diverted public funds to the tune of N109.5 billion.
Testifying, Idris told the court that he made a total
of 16 statements on different days in the course of EFCC investigation but the
prosecution only sought to tender 13 of them.
According to him, he.made the first statement on Jan.
22, 2022, when he went to the EFCC headquarters to see the former EFCC
Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa.
” I was made to write a statement without my lawyer
present.
“I objected but one Hayatudeen (EFCC operative)
insisted that I must give a statement if I want my freedom.
” I had to give that statement to get that freedom to
leave,” he said.
He alleged that his interrogators dictated what he
wrote in the statement.
He said:”to the best of my knowledge, there was no
video recording of what transpired that day”.
He added that the statement recording ended around
2a.m.
According to him, he was in custody and was not
released on bail.
Idris alleged that between May 17 and May 21, 2022,
the interrogations were very rigorous .
He said while being detained by EFCC, he was taken to
the chairman’s office on three occasions and the.then chairman, Bawa had told
him he was not the target.
”He told me that the target was the former Minister of
Finance,” he said.
Justice Yusuf Halilu adjourned until May 7 for
continuation of the trial-within-trial.
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