The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), High Court, Gudu, presided over by Justice Adebukola Banjoko, was told by a prosecution witness, Musa Sunday, who is a detective with the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC), yesterday how former governor of Plateau State, and serving Senator Joshua Dariye diverted N204 million to an illegal company he owns, for no service rendered.
With the new revelation, the amount allegedly stolen by the former governor, whose case with the EFCC has been dragging on for the past nine years has increased to N1.4 billion. Dariye was initially being prosecuted for allegedly diverting into private use about N1.2 billion Ecological Fund meant for the state, but prosecution witness revealed yesterday that another N204 million had been traced to him.
EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said in a statement that evidences were presented in court to prove the new allegation in the case of money laundering and diversion of funds.
The witness told the court that some cheques had been paid into the account of the illegal company, to Ebenezer Ratnen Ventures (ERV), which is owned by Dariye. The state Accountant General’s office allegedly made the various payments according to him.
“Sunday told the court that in the course of investigations into several cheque slips recovered from the then Lion Bank (now Diamond Bank), it was discovered that there were several questionable inflows into the account of ERV.
Presenting the certified photocopies of various bank drafts in court to prove the fraudulent transfers, Sunday, said: “In the course of our investigations we found out that the origin of the various money credited to Ebenezer Ratnen Ventures with Diamond Bank (then Lion Bank), was from the office of the state’s Accountant General.”
Specifically, Sunday, said that the office of the state’s Accountant General issued Lion Bank cheques to All States Trust Bank, which were cleared into the account of ERV. He further noted that investigations showed that there were no services rendered by ERV to warrant the payment of the said money, adding that investigations at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) showed that the company was not registered.
According to him, a number of such transactions totaling about N204 million, involved Lion Bank cheques converted to drafts and paid into All States Trust Bank, afterwards credited to the account of ERV.
The witness further revealed that the monies diverted by Dariye was used to buy properties, while some of the cash were moved abroad to the United Kingdom, thereby informing EFCC’s request for the Metropolitan Police to help in the investigations. He told the court that some of the evidence gathered by the EFCC in the course of the investigation was also sent to the UK Police to assist in their investigation.
“We probed further at the state’s Accountant General’s office to know what services were rendered by Ebenezer Retnan Ventures, but they couldn’t produce or show any contract documents necessitating the payment of N204 million.”
The voluntary statements made by Dariye on June 12, 2007, June 13, 2007 and June 15, 2007 during interrogation, were also presented in court where Dariye was asked to acknowledge that they were statements made by him in the course of the investigations into the alleged crime. He acknowledged they were his statements.
While accepting Dariye’s statement as part of exhibits to be used in prosecuting him, Justice Banjoko adjourned till February 2, 2016 for continuation of trial.
Guardian
