Alleged N304.1m Fraud: Court admits more evidence against ex-NIMASA DG, two others

Justice Tijani Ringim of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Tuesday, admitted in evidence several documents tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), against a former acting Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Haruna Baba Jauro, and two others.

Jauro alongside Dr. Dauda Bitrus Bawa and a company, Thlumbau Enterprises Limited, is being prosecuted on a 19-count charge bordering on stealing and money laundering to the tune of N304, 118, 500.

EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement indicated that at the resumed sitting, the prosecution presented its third prosecution witness, PW3, Orji Chukwuma, an investigator with the Commission.

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Chukwuma, of the Chairman Monitoring Unit, EFCC, Abuja, told the court that he was Head, Special Task Force Unit 3, Lagos Zonal Command, at the time of the investigation of the alleged fraud.

When asked if he knew the defendants and the company, Thlumbau Enterprises Limited, the PW3, whose team was tasked with investigating money laundering and other financial crimes, stated that he came across all the defendants in the course of his investigation, upon receipt of intelligence reports against the management of NIMASA. According to him, in the course of investigations, various enquiries were made to banks and staff of NIMASA and that interviews were also conducted on staff, banks’ employees, contractors to NIMASA, corporate organizations, individuals who made payments into the 3^rd and 1^st defendants’ accounts as well as some beneficiaries  of the proceeds made by them. Investigations revealed that the 3^rd defendant was incorporated by the 1^st defendant, using his children, while the 2^nd defendant operated the account of the 3^rd defendant.

“Further investigation revealed that proceeds of unlawful activities of the 1^st defendant, while he was the Executive Director of Finance and Administration in NIMASA, was concealed and laundered for his benefit through the 3^rd defendant. The proceeds were used to acquire a property in Abuja,” he said.

In his further testimony, Chukwuma told the court that funds co-mingled with loans taken from Aso Savings Limited to also acquire two other houses in Lagos. Asked if he could identify both Exhibits AI and A2, which are the 3^rd defendant’s statement of account containing the proceeds of the enquiries and investigations he carried out, the PW3 identified exhibit A series as the 3^rd defendant’s mandate and statement of accounts, responses to the EFCC’s enquires as well as the instruments used to move money out of the 3^rd defendant’s account. Giving evidence about Exhibit A1 and the share structures of the 3^rd defendant, the PW3 told the court that one Samuel Haruna Baba had 500,000( Five Hundred Thousand) ordinary units; one Salome Haruna Baba owned 250,000( Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand) ordinary shares and  one Ila Haruna owned 200,000( Two Hundred Thousand) ordinary shar

He also stated that the names mentioned are children and relations of the 1^st defendant and that their addresses are the same as his. When asked if he could identify the enquiries he recovered while conducting investigations in NIMASA, the PW3 did, adding that they were documents from NIMASA to banks to effect payments. The prosecution sought to tender a copy of the internal memo of NIMASA dated July 8, 2014 and two letters of instructions to Access Bank from NIMASA dated January 3, 2014.

They were all admitted and marked as exhibits B, B1 and B2 by the court. During the proceedings, the prosecution counsel also asked the witness if there was an exchange of correspondence regarding the Aso Savings loans he earlier talked about, to which he answered in the affirmative, adding that it contained the mandate, statement of account, certificate of identification and mortgage correspondence of the first defendant. The prosecution counsel also sought to tender the letter dated February 10, 2016 from Aso Savings and Loans Plc to the EFCC with its attachments, and they were all admitted in evidence and marked as exhibit C.

While giving further testimony about exhibit A and some entries made on January 6, ,2014, Chukwuma explained that there was an inflow of N15 million that came from the Committee of Intelligence belonging to NIMASA.

He said: “The Committee is set up and funded by NIMASA for specific purposes related to security.

“Investigations showed, from the account statement of January 23, 2014, that the sum of N12 million was transferred to the account of the first defendant in Aso Savings to manage the loans he took to buy property.

“On July 10, 2014, another sum of N20 million was also paid into the account of the third defendant.

“Subsequently, the 2^nd defendant also benefited the sum of N1, 470,000 which  was later returned to the Commission in a draft.”

When he was shown copies of the draft by the prosecution counsel, he identified them as the statement of one Ishaq Banabas, who returned the total sum of N35m (Thirty-five Million Naira) through five different bank drafts to the EFCC Draft Registration Form Receipt.

The drafts as well as the EFCC Draft Registration Form receipt were admitted in evidence and marked as exhibits D and D1, respectively. The PW3, in his further testimony, told the court that the sum of N20m (Twenty Million Naira) was transferred by Kishini Nigeria Limited and another N5m (Five Million Naira) was paid into the third defendant by Eminent Consult.

The 3^rd defendant’s account, according to him, was co-mingled and aggregated to the sum of N52m (Fifty-two Million Naira) paid to one Helen Monu, who used it to purchase a house for the first defendant. When asked about the various entries in the exhibit A series, the PW3 told the Court that there were several inflows from various individuals and companies into the 3^rd defendant’s accounts, including Sulaiman Mohammed, Komas Mega BDC, Dan Asabe ,Mustapha Buka,  Dulbangon Enterprise , Kostam Mega Concept , Kolomi Mohammed , Abubakar Mansur , Mukaila Jubrila, Alkawali Nigerian Enterprise and Hassan.

Asked if the third defendant rendered any services that led to the various cash payments totaling N120m, the witness told the court that the 3^rd defendant never rendered any services, adding that “the payments are proceeds of unlawful activities.” The case was adjourned till March 15, 2023 for continuation of trial.