Bello and
his son are on trial alongside their Company, Bam Project and Properties
Limited, on a 4-count ch
arge of money laundering preferred against them by the
EFCC.
Aliyu
Mohammed Mukddas, a Senior Manager with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who
is also a witness in the trial a former National Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) Haliru Bello on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 told Justice A.
R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja how Bam Projects and Properties, a
company owned by former PDP chair, was paid N300million by the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA).
Bello and
his son are on trial alongside their Company, Bam Project and Properties
Limited, on a 4-count charge of money laundering preferred against them by the
EFCC.
They were
alleged to have collected N300million from the Office of the National Security
Adviser, ONSA, being part of the funds meant to fight insurgency in the
North-East of the country.
Testifying
as PW6, Mukddas, who was led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, O. A.
Atolagbe, told the court that the narration on the payment mandate showed that
the payment was given as "Safe Houses” which the amount was for
N300million. Although, when asked by the prosecuting counsel if it is the duty
of CBN to know if the contract was executed, the witness replied in the negative.
The witness,
who was manager, between 2010 and 2015, gave details on procedures for payment
to Ministries, Department and Agencies.
According to
him, agencies would bring their payment schedule showing the date, name of the
organization, amount in words/figure and details of beneficiaries. He added
that the schedule must be duly signed by signatories of that organization after
which it would be brought by the confirmation officer.
“The
confirmation would be done before us with his name, signature, date and thumb
print,” he said.
The PW6
further stated that, “when the payment schedule is received, the CBN passes it
for verification of signatories and also check account balance before it is
passed for payment”.
When asked
if he knows of an ONSA account, he told the court that, “it is an account
managed by CBN and it is funded by Office of Accountant General of the
Federation.”
According to
him, “the account has two source of funding, sometime from office of the Secretary
to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and mostly from the Accountant
General of the Federation.”
Mukddas told
the court that, “between 2012 and 2015, the main signatory to the account was
Sambo Dasuki and also another signatory was the then Director Finance and
Account S. A. Salisu, while the confirmation officer was Yazeed Ibrahim”.
Saharareporters reported that, the witness
was shown Exhibit PL 5, which is one of the payment mandate paid and asked to
explain the procedures followed in making payment to which he said, “the
mandate in PL5 was brought from ONSA by Yazeed Ibrahim and he confirmed the
mandate to us”.
He added
that all due process was followed.
Asked by
Atolagbe what he meant by all due process was followed; the witness replied
that, “that means all signatories have signed, thumb printed, amount given in
words and figures and that the confirmation officer have confirmed same”.
Justice
Mohammed, thereafter, adjourned to July 5, 2017 for further trial.
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