Read the Press statement from EFCC
below...
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on April 11, 2016,
presented more witnesses in the on-going trial of former Governor of
Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, and two
others before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court sitting
in Maitama, Abuja.
They are being prosecuted on a 27-count charge bordering on the abuse of
office and money laundering.
Prosecution witness, Micheal Wetkas, an operative of the EFCC, who
testified as PW18, revealed how Lamido, his sons, and cohorts received
kickbacks, while masquerading the same as proceeds for executed
sub-contracts.
He told the court that investigations into the alleged fraud started in
2007 through to 2015.
"We discovered that Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company, which
executed over 21 contracts totaling almost N30bn, had continuously paid
over N1bn into the accounts of Speeds International Limited and Bamaina
Holding Company - both accounts whose sole signatory is Alhaji Sule
Lamido," he said.
Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company, according to Wetkas, was one of
the contractors to the state.
He said, "Investigations also revealed that about N100m of third party
cheques were cleared into the Access Bank Account of Speeds
International Limited, where the 3rd defendant (Mustapha Sule Lamido) is
a signatory.
"These revelations resulted in the invitation of the Managing Director
of Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company, one Mr Udo, to the
Commission, where Udo claimed that the monies paid were for
sub-contracts awarded by Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company to the
defendants' companies for supplies of Bitumen, Diesel and Steel Iron
Wrought - construction consumables used by the company.
"A close inspection of Dantata and Sawoe's electronic records, physical
books, financial statements, consumable journals, and waybills by the
investigators and the forensic team revealed discrepancies which could
not be explained.
"In one of such cases, a forensic report revealed that entries dating
back to between 2007 and 2013 were only entered into records in
2014-2015, long after EFCC investigations had commenced.
"Upon further questioning, the 9th defendant, one Mr Bartholomew could
not provide any evidence that the company had procured any items to
execute the sub-contract.
"As part of the investigation, the team of operatives discovered another
company, A.G. Ferrero and Co. Limited, which was also a contractor to
the state between 2007 and 2013, when the 1st defendant was the governor
of Jigawa State. A.G. Ferrero was awarded contracts by the Jigawa State
Government, one of which was the construction of the Jigawa State
Secretariat, Dutse. The contract for the project was initially awarded
for N6bn but later reviewed to over N9bn.”
Wetkas further told the court that one Interior Woodwork Limited was
awarded contracts by the Jigawa State Government for interior
furnishings, and consequently made payments of N65.5m and N48m into
accounts of the 3rd and 6th defendants' accounts, respectively.
He added that the 4th defendant, Aminu Wada Abubakar, had introduced one
Alhaji Suraju Ahmadu, MD/CEO of Rauda Integrated Services Limited, who
had previously testified as PW12, to the 3rd defendant, Mustapha Sule
Lamido, under the guise that he (Aminu) was going to assist Ahmadu to
secure contracts from the Jigawa State Goverment. Alhaji Ahmadu
thereafter handed over his company profile documents for that purpose.
He said, "Alhaji Ahmadu subsequently got and executed two (2) contracts,
valued at a sum of N62m. During the course of investigation, however,
other contracts were discovered to have been executed by the duo of
Mustapha Sule Lamido and Aminu Wada Abubakar, totally over N150m.
"We discovered an account in Access Bank in the name of Rauda Integrated
Services Limited which had the 3rd and 4th defendants as signatories,
into which part of the payments for these contracts, which had been
executed without the knowledge of the owner of the company, had been
paid."
Another prosecution witness, Rasaq Adetuyi, a compliance officer at
Access Bank Plc, who testified as PW17 had earlier presented to the
court duly certified account statements of Dantata and Sawoe
Construction Company which were admitted in evidence as Exhibit EFCC 58
(1-14).
Among other evidences tendered were: letters written to the Corporate
Affairs Commission (CAC) to confirm the existence of the companies
involved, which were admitted in evidence as Exhibit EFCC 59a, b, EFCC
60 and EFCC 61; as well as, the letter from CAC which stated that the
company, Gada Construction Ltd, was non-existent, admitted as Exhibit
EFCC 62.
Further hearing in the criminal trial has been fixed for April 12, 2016.
