A FCT High Court Abuja presided by Justice A. O. Adeyemi Ajayi was told how the suspended Accountant General of the Federation Ahmed Idris shared N84.3 billion public funds to Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) officials, finance commissioners of oil producing states, former Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari, among others.
Mr Idris is standing trial alongside Godfrey Olusegun Akindele and Mohammed Kudu Usman over allegations of N109 billion fraud.
This was disclosed by Chief Investigative Officer of the case and Prosecution Witness One (PW1), Chief Superintendent of the EFCC, Hayatu Sulaiman Ahmed, at the resumed trial of the case on Thursday.
While being led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), Mr Ahmed told the court that the investigations by the EFCC showed that Mr Idris while in office, compromised key units under his care like the TSA, GIFMIS and IPPIS that led to loss of funds by the government.
Mr Ahmed said, “My Lord, investigation showed that Ibrahim received United States dollars from the first defendant. We also found out that agitation from the nine oil producing states, regarding derivation from the excess crude account, was tabled before the Federal Account Allocation Committee, FAAC and the committee came up with a figure of about $2.2 billion as what was due to the nine oil producing states, and these amount was to be deducted over a 60 months period on quarterly basis”, he said.
He said 11.5 percent of this figure, amounting to N44.7 billion, was put aside as payments to some public officials to facilitate payments to the oil producing states.
The witness said, “After the determination of this committee, my lord, some companies, Akindele and Co, a company owned by the second defendant, Godfrey Olusegun Akindele was presented under the guise of consultancy.
“My Lord, until recently, the second defendant, Akindele was a staff in the office of the AGF, and Technical Assistant to the first defendant.
“Investigation revealed that N84.39 billion was paid into Akindele’s bank accounts,” he said.
The EFCC official said another transaction occurred on February 12, 2021 with N21 billion paid into his account.
He said aside from the payment of money that was made on February 12, 2021, other payments were made on May 6, 2021, and between July 28, 2021 and November 5, 2021 amounting to N94.39 billion.
The witness said the funds were shared to RMAFC, represented by one of its commissioners and former Deputy Governor of Abia State, Peace Akomas.
He said Ms Akomas allegedly collected N18.8 billion. The money, he said, was withdrawn by Mr Akindele and converted to US dollars and handed over to Ms Akomas.
The EFCC witness said, “The second group is the AGF group and it got a total sum of N18.01 billion.
“The third group, the Commissioners of Finance in the nine oil producing states, received N21.4 billion. The money was withdrawn by Akindele, converted to US dollars and handed over to Akomas on behalf of the group.
“The fourth group is called the Yari group. This group received N17.15 billion. The entirety of the sum was transferred to the account of Fimex Professional Services on the instruction of the representative of this group: Abdulaziz Yari, former Zamfara state governor.
The remaining N8.9 billion, he said, was retained by the second defendant.
Also, N4.29 billion was converted to US dollars by Mr Akindele as appreciation for the consultancy contract, and the balance of N4.6 billion was given to Mr Akindele.
The witness told the court that all his revelations were confirmed by the defendants in writing, in their statements admitting to have collected all the money. He said properties purchased with the funds by the first and third defendants were traced to various locations in Abuja, Kano, and Minna, Niger state.
Mr Idris and his co-defendants were granted bail by FCT High Court on Thursday.
– Background –
On July 22, the suspects, alongside a company, Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited, were arraigned by the EFCC before Justice Ajayi on a 14-count charge bordering on gratification, abuse of office and money laundering to the tune of over N109 billion fraud.
The judge ordered that the trio be remanded in prison custody pending the determination of their bail applications.
On May 16, Mr Idris was arrested by the EFCC in Kano over alleged diversion of funds and money laundering activities totalling over N174 billion.
He was accused of fraud through bogus consultancies and other illegal activities using proxies, family members and close associates.
The AGF was arrested for failing to honour multiple invitations by the anti-graft agency.
On May 19, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, suspended Mr Idris as AGF indefinitely.
The minister had directed that Idris should proceed on indefinite suspension pending the outcome of the investigation
On May 22, Mr. Anamekwe Chukwunyere Nwabuoku was appointed as overseer of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).
On May 29, the EFCC arrested a former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, over alleged links to the N84bn alleged fraud involving Mr Idris.
The former governor, who won a senate ticket a day earlier under the platform of the ruling APC, was picked over a N22 billion deal.
On June 2, the EFCC released the suspended AGF on bail.
