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 thecase.
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.
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