DAAR Communication’s owner Raymond Dokpesi allegedly transferred some funds to certain beneficiaries for the purpose of obtaining the International Conference Centre for use by the PDP in the run-up to the 2015 election.
A witness in the ongoing trial of Dokpesi stated this while explaining how parts of the money the media baron was alleged to have diverted from the office of the National Security Adviser was used by Dokpesi’s company.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission accused Daar Communications Limited of diverting N2.1 billion from the account of the office of the former NSA Sambo Dasuki.
The witness, Abubakar Aliyu, an investigative officer with the EFCC, was speaking on Wednesday at the continuation of the trial of Mr. Dokpesi at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court .
Among the alleged beneficiaries Aliyu named were Abubakar Jawa who was contacted by the EFCC. Jawa confirmed receiving N100 million from Dokpesi in the form of a loan.
There was also Timaus Matins, described by a resource person, paid N20 million by Dokpesi.
“Investigations revealed that N8.1 million of the amount was used for political jingles for the PDP. N4.5 million was given to him (Martins) as a long service staff and as accident bonus for sustaining injury in the course of his official duty for AIT in Yola,’ said Aliyu.
“The sum of N4.3 million and N2.7 million, respectively was used for the extension and electricity installation in the AIT Zonal office Yola. N1.3 million was used to dig a borehole in AIT’s office in Yola.”
Other beneficiaries mentioned include Dokpesi’s wife Oluwatosin who got over N100 million, Gabriel Agorie and Godfrey Osifo, all staff of the first and second defendants.
“Trendy Shade Nigeria Limited was discovered to be one of the beneficiaries in the course of the Investigation,” said Aliyu who added that a woman simply identified as Bose (because the witness could not pronounce her last name), confirmed the payment of N46 million in five trenches to Trendy Shades.
“The total amount paid to the company is N230 million by the second defendant on the instructions of the first defendant,” Aliyu said.
According to the witness, the various funds were paid from the account of the NSA domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria with final instructions from the office of the NSA.
He added that the funds were reportedly paid for rebranding the image of the PDP.
The witness added that another sum of N400 million was paid to a beneficiary on January 23, 2015 while N30 million was paid in cash to Godfrey Osifo, among other payments.
According to the witness, the former director of finance at the CBN, Salisu Shuaibu, confirmed that he transferred the funds to the first defendant from the accounts of the NSA in CBN, based on instructions from the NSA.
“There were also print and electronic media in the original proposal by the first defendant.
He claimed they were going to carry out media activities. For those who we were able to get their addresses, we wrote to them. Some of them are Silverbird, Kiss FM, Punch, Guardian, Peoples Media Limited, Media Trust, Liberty Radio, Abuja Broadcasting Corporation, among others.”
Aliyu also read through some documents to confirm the payments and reported communications to the various beneficiaries.
In a reaction to Aliyu’s use of documents, Dokpesi’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi, said the Court of Appeal had ruled that the reading of documents by a witness who did not prepare the said document, will not be regarded as an evidence.
The prosecution lawyer responded to Agabi’s objection, saying the same Court of Appeal had warned against dumping documents in court.
“They are already before Your Lordship,” Leke Atolagbe added.
“It is documentary hearsay and if he persists when we come to address him, we will take him on that,” Mr. Agabi said.
Justice John Tsoho then adjourned the case till March 9 for cross-examination.
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