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Alleged N6.2bn Fraud: Witness narrates how Jang, others diverted Plateau MSMEs Funds
A prosecution witness 13, PW13, in the trial of former Governor Jonah David Jang of Plateau State and a former cashier in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (OSSG), Yusuf Pam, at the resumed hearing, told a Plateau State High Court that Jang allegedly diverted funds meant for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the state. They are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement narrated that the witness, an Assistant Director in charge of Development with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Musa Olashuko, told Justice C.L Dabup that funds meant for artisans, small holder farmers, market women and entrepreneurs were diverted into the account of the Plateau State government and its agencies.
According to Olashuko: “We made an inquiry on the regular flow of funds between the credited account communicated to us by the state government and the Plateau State Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (PLASMEDAN)’s account, and we noticed that funds were diverted to accounts related to the state government and its agencies and that no disbursement was made through the initial beneficiaries, i.e. the SME’s (Artisans, traders, small holder farmers, entrepreneurs and market women), where about 60% of the funds was supposed to go to.”
When the CBN noticed the inappropriateness of the deal, Olashuko said a recommendation was made that the Issuance of Irrevocable Payment Standing Order (ISPO) issued by the state government be taken over in order to recover the funds.
He further said the money was supposed to be sent directly from Zenith bank as the bank housing the money to the beneficiaries’ accounts, within five working days, but the Plateau state government allegedly diverted the funds to various accounts of the state.
While cross- examining the witness, counsel to the first defendant, E.G Pajwok SAN, asked the witness whether, in the course of their investigation in Jos, they went to PLASMEDAN office or contact any of the officials. He responded that the CBN later found out that “PLASMEDAN was just a paper creation. No building, no officials. The creation was not supported with any structural or operational framework”.
EFCC added that another witness (PW14) from the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offence Commission (ICPC), Chief Superintendent of the ICPC, Taiwo Oloronyomi, also told the court that Jang diverted N2 billion meant for MSMEs.
Oloronyomi told the court that ICPC’s investigation revealed that the sum of N2 billion was not deposited into the PLASMEDAN account as stated in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Plateau State government and the CBN.
“My lord, we discovered that this money was deposited into the Plateau state Project 1 Account as against the PLASMEDAN account. Our investigation also revealed that the money was moved in tranches from the Project 1 Account by the second defendant, on previous approval of the first defendant, directing his officials: Permanent Secretary, Cabinet and Special Services, Accountant General of the state and the Commissioner of finance for the purpose of classified expenditure.
“My lord, the second defendant was given cheques and withdrew the money in tranches, on several days and took it to the first defendant himself. When we discovered that, we invited him, and he voluntarily narrated to us orally and in writing, how he withdrew the money and took it to the first defendant along with some security personnel as escorts,” the ICPC official narrated before the court.
Oloronyomi further told the court that the memo used as backup to withdraw the money was tagged as ‘Classified expenditure’.
“My lord, we swung into action to know what classified expenditure is but found out no correspondence in the state government was ever tagged as such. We invited the governor who also wrote a statement but couldn’t explain what he meant by classified expenditure,” he said.
The witness also told the court that they also investigated Plateau State’s SUBEB account and discovered the same pattern was used to loot money from the account.
“In the account we discovered about N3 billion and the pattern of withdrawal was the same as the PLASMEDAN’s account.” he said.
When the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacob, SAN, moved to tender the statement of the second defendant voluntarily made to the ICPC as exhibit, counsel to the second defendant, S. Olawale, argued that the statement of his client was made under duress, stressing that he was subjected to physical and psychological torture by one Hajiya Fatima Mohammed of the ICPC, an allegation a team member of the investigation team, PW14 denied.
In view of this, a trial within trial ensued, with the prosecution and the second defendant counsel presenting one witness each.
After the trial within trial, Justice Dapub, thereafter, adjourned the matter to May 20, 2022 for adoption of final written addresses and May 30, 2022 for ruling and continuation of examination- in- chief.