The Economic and Financial
Commission (EFCC) today named some top officers of the Nigerian
Police Force and civil servants who allegedly benefited from a bribe
scandal totaling $115m doled out by former Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke. The purpose of the bribe, offered in
cash disbursements, was apparently to enlist the police and civil service
officers in a scheme to compromise the 2015 general elections in favor of
the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a document
tendered today by the EFCC before the Federal High Court in
Lagos, the anti-graft agency stated that the then Assistant
Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in Kwara State received N1m
cash. The EFCC disclosed that,while the Commissioner of Police
in Kwara State at the time received N10m in cash, the Deputy
Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations got N2m.
The EFCC also alleged
that the Assistant Commissioners of Police in charge of operations and
administration in Kwara State received N1m cash each.
According to the
EFCC document, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kwara State for
the 2015 general elections was given N10m, while the Independent
National Electoral Commission's Administrative Secretary in Kwara State at the
time received N5m in cash.
The head of Operations Department at INEC, along with “his boys,” were handed N5m, while “other officers”unnamed officials received and shared N2m among themselves.
Other beneficiaries of the
Diezani bribe in Kwara State included the officer in charge of the
mobile police (Mopol) and “his men” who got N7m, the
second-in-command of the Mopol unit in the state, who got
N10m, and the Director of the State Security
Service (DSS) and “his men,”who got N2.5m.
The military unit in Kwara
State received bribe of N50m, according to the EFCC document,
while other security agencies, including the Nigeria Security and Civil
Defense Corps and the Federal Road Safety Corps, got N20m.
An EFCC investigator, Usman
Zakari, who brought the document to court today, told Justice Rilwan
Aikawa that the document was recovered from Dele Belgore, a senior
Nigerian lawyer on trial for his alleged involvement in the bribe scandal.
Mr. Belgore is standing
trial before Justice Aikawa for allegedly collecting N450m from Ms. Alison-Madueke and
distributing the funds to beneficiaries in Kwara State.
The EFCC has accused the
lawyer of handling the funds in cash without going through any
financial institution, a violation of the Money Laundering (Prohibition)
(Amendment) Act, 2012.
The EFCC
said Mr. Belgore is liable to be punished under sections 15(3)(4),
and 16(2)(b) of the same Act.
Standing trial along
with Mr. Belgore for the offence is a former Minister of National
Planning, Abubakar Suleiman, a professor. The two
defendants were on February 8, 2017 arraigned on charges of money
laundering, but they pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Zakari is the second
witness called by the EFCC in the case.
Testifying before Justice Aikawa,
the investigator Mr.Zakari explained that Mr. Belgore volunteered the
list to the EFCC when he was invited and interrogated by the anti-graft agency.
He noted that the document, titled “Security and Transportation per
State”, was signed by the accused lawyer who stated, “document supplied by
me, Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN).”
The EFCC also submitted
as exhibit another document recovered
from Mr. Belgore containing the names of other
beneficiaries from the bribe.
That exhibit, simply marked “Kwara State,” showed beneficiaries from
a slush fund of N155, 220,000, including a breakdown of what
individual beneficiaries received.
Among
the beneficiaries were 15 electoral officers
who received 250,000 each, 15 supervisors who got N100,
000each, and the State Returning Officer who got N1m.
EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo,
tendered the two documents which the court admitted in evidence
as Exhibit 7 and 7A against Mr. Belgore
and Mr. Suleiman. The defendants’ respective lawyers,
Mr. Ebun Shofunde and Mr. Olatunji Ayanlaja, raised no objection.
Mr. Zakari
testified that the EFCC's investigation established that
the funds were disbursed to the beneficiaries in cash.
“My Lord, the mode of payment, as
contained in Exhibit 7, is cash payment. The payments were not done through any
financial institution,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Justice Aikawa heard
argument in an application by Mr. Belgore seeking dismissal of the
charges on the grounds that the EFCC failed to attach an affidavit showing that
it had concluded investigation before bringing the case to court. Moving
the application today, Mr. Belgore’s lawyer, Mr. Shofunde,
argued that the EFCC’s failure to attach an affidavit stating it
had concluded investigation prior to filing charges was a fundamental
breach of the Federal High Court Practice Direction. Arguing that such
failure rendered the charges incompetent, Mr. Shofunde urged the court
to quash the charges and free his client.
Opposing the application,
the EFCC lawyer, Mr. Oyedepo, argued that the current law
governing criminal cases in the country was the Administration of Criminal
Justice Act (ACJA) 2015. He argued that the ACJA did not list filing of
the said affidavit as one of the conditions to be fulfilled before a
criminal charge could be filed in court. He stressed that the provisions
of the ACJA were superior to that of the Federal High Court Practice Direction.
In addition, Mr.
Oyedepo referred Justice Aikawa to Section 221 of the ACJA which barred a
judge from entertaining any application challenging the competence of
charges in a criminal case in the middle of trial as well as Section 396
(2) of the Act, which barred a judge from ruling on any such application until
the final judgment in the case.
He urged the judge to
dismiss
the defendant’s application, adding that granting it
would “amount to slaughtering justice on the altar of technicality.”
Justice Aikawa adjourned till July 7 for ruling.
Justice Aikawa adjourned till July 7 for ruling.
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