Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s cousin Azibaola Robert didn’t receive money paid for a safe house by the Office of the National Security Adviser, a witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said.
At the resumed trial on Friday, the tenth prosecution witness, an EFCC operative, David Mkpe told the trial judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court Abuja, that Robert, his wife and company, Oneplus Holdings did not collect any money for the "safe house."
“The petition we received from the Presidential Investigative Committee on Arms Procurement (PICAP) was to specifically investigate the N650m paid into the account of Tunji Adeniyi & Co by ONSA,” Mkpe told the trial judge, Justice Dimgba, under cross-examination by the Defence Counsel Chris Uche, SAN.
“We investigated the complaint (from PICAP) and found out that no farthing of the N650 million paid for the safe house was found in any of the accounts of the defendants (Robert, his wife Stella, and Oneplus Holdings Limited). Tunji Adeniyi had testified before this court that he had refunded the said N650 million to the ONSA and also wrote and made statement before the EFCC confirming the refund.”
Mkpe told the court that Alhaji Numan Danbatta is the owner of property Plot Number 2245 in Maitama for which the sum of N650 million was paid by the ONSA into the account of Tunji Adeniyi & Co.
“I did not take statement from Alhaji Danbatta, and I have never sighted any statement given by him in the course of our investigation,” he said.
The witness told the court that “all the five members of the EFCC Special Task Force Team 2 which investigated the complaint of the Presidential committee were non-conventional police officers, except one, CSP Ibrahim Musa, and said that the team was disbanded immediately after they concluded their investigation."
Mkpe had earlier in the day’s proceedings also told Justice Dimgba that he was aware that a member of the Presidential committee which sent the complaint to the EFCC to investigate, had been arrested, detained and being investigated by the Department of State Security (DSS) for alleged fraud.
The trial has been adjourned to 18th and 20th of October 2017.
At the resumed trial on Friday, the tenth prosecution witness, an EFCC operative, David Mkpe told the trial judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court Abuja, that Robert, his wife and company, Oneplus Holdings did not collect any money for the "safe house."
“The petition we received from the Presidential Investigative Committee on Arms Procurement (PICAP) was to specifically investigate the N650m paid into the account of Tunji Adeniyi & Co by ONSA,” Mkpe told the trial judge, Justice Dimgba, under cross-examination by the Defence Counsel Chris Uche, SAN.
“We investigated the complaint (from PICAP) and found out that no farthing of the N650 million paid for the safe house was found in any of the accounts of the defendants (Robert, his wife Stella, and Oneplus Holdings Limited). Tunji Adeniyi had testified before this court that he had refunded the said N650 million to the ONSA and also wrote and made statement before the EFCC confirming the refund.”
Mkpe told the court that Alhaji Numan Danbatta is the owner of property Plot Number 2245 in Maitama for which the sum of N650 million was paid by the ONSA into the account of Tunji Adeniyi & Co.
“I did not take statement from Alhaji Danbatta, and I have never sighted any statement given by him in the course of our investigation,” he said.
The witness told the court that “all the five members of the EFCC Special Task Force Team 2 which investigated the complaint of the Presidential committee were non-conventional police officers, except one, CSP Ibrahim Musa, and said that the team was disbanded immediately after they concluded their investigation."
Mkpe had earlier in the day’s proceedings also told Justice Dimgba that he was aware that a member of the Presidential committee which sent the complaint to the EFCC to investigate, had been arrested, detained and being investigated by the Department of State Security (DSS) for alleged fraud.
The trial has been adjourned to 18th and 20th of October 2017.
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