Part of Joshua Dariye’s N1.1bn Loot got to Atiku’s Firm

Federal Capital Territory High Court in Gudu, Abuja was the location as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission yesterday opened its case against former governor of Plateau state, Joshua Dariye.

Joshua Dariye is being accused of diverting N1.126 billion ecological funds meant for the people of Plateau State while serving as governor between May 29, 1999 and May 18, 2004.

The first witness called by the prosecution at the commencement of trial- Musa Sunday testified before the Justice Adebukola Banjoko-led court, how Dariye allegedly diverted the ecological funds.

The witness, an operative of the EFCC, said investigation revealed that the former governor had, in 2001, applied for the ecological funds in the name of his state but collected the money in person and deposited it with the now defunct Abuja branch of the All States Trust Bank Plc.

Dariye instructed the bank manager to pay N100m in the name of ‘PDP South-West”, funds which were subsequently traced to a company called Marine Float Nigeria Limited, which is believed to be owned by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

Sunday also said that Dariye instructed the payment of N178.8m to an unregistered company – Ebenezer Retnan Venture Limited, while he also ordered the payment of N80m from the ecological funds to the Permanent Secretary in the Ecological Fund Office, Kingsley Nkumeh.

He further revealed that although the EFCC recovered the N80m from Nkumeh, he fled the country when he got wind of a possible prosecution.

The EFCC operative also stated that Dariye paid N250m to Pinnacle Communications, a firm owned by a contractor to the Plateau State Government.

“We invited Pinnacle Communications and the representative of the company actually confirmed collecting the N250m, but told us he is a contractor of the Plateau State Government.

“The N80m paid to Union Homes turned out to have been paid to a Permanent Secretary, Ecological Funds Office, Kingsley Nkumeh.

“When interviewed, he said that was his share for facilitating the payment of the ecological funds to the state. The said amount was recovered by the EFCC from the Permanent Secretary of Ecological Funds Office.

“Charges were later prepared for him to be charged to court in Lagos. He was granted an administrative bail; he resigned and left the country. Our investigation at Union Homes revealed that the cheque was cleared into an account owned by the Permanent Secretary, Nkumeh.

“The bank gave us the mandate card of the Permanent Secretary, into whose account the N80m was paid. The N176.8m was traced to Ebenezer Retnan Venture’s account domiciled at All States Trust Bank. From investigation at the Corporate Affairs Commission, we found it was not registered. There was no record of the company’s existence.

“The N100m paid to the PDP South-West was traced to Marine Float Limited. The mandate we received from the bank showed that Marine Float is owned by a former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Efforts at recovering this money have been going on. We did not succeed in recovering it.”

“The CBN cheque and the handwritten disbursement letter were recovered and another additional type-written disbursement letter by the defendant to the bank’s branch manager was all recovered.

“When we recovered those documents and cheques from CBN, we traced it to where it came from. Investigation led us to the Ecological Funds Unit, under the Presidency. At the Ecological Funds Unit, we interviewed one Mr. Adewusi, who told us that there was a time the Plateau State Government applied for ecological funds for ecological problem in the state, and approval was given for N1.126bn.

“And that before the cheque was prepared, a payment voucher covering the said amount, which had other documents attached to it, were prepared and audited, at the end of which payment was made.

“When the cheque was ready for collection, the defendant and his orderly, one Inspector Victor, went to the Ecological Funds Office and, upon instruction by the defendant, the aide signed for the cheque and the defendant took the cheque to All States Trust Bank, Abuja.

“Investigation revealed that in the office of the bank manager, the defendant instructed the bank manager how the money should be disbursed to some individuals and companies. The bank’s branch manager complied with the defendant’s instruction.

“Instead of the money to be paid into any of the Plateau State Government’s accounts, the bank used its own bank accounts to clear the cheque and disbursed to individuals and companies as instructed by the defendant.

“Copies of his instructions, both type written and handwritten were made available to us during investigation.”

The testimony of the EFCC official, Sunday Musa, is expected to resume on Tuesday, January 26.