EFCC Press Release
At the resumed trial of a former Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Air Chief Marshal Alex S. Badeh,
on Tuesday,
May 24, 2016 the fourth prosecution
witness, PW4,
Mustapha Yerima gave Justice
Okon E. Abang of the Federal High Court
Abuja a blow-by-blow account of how he was paid the sum of N108million
through Badeh’s company, Vetivo Nigeria Limited.
Yerima whose testimony started yesterday stated that,
the process of the payment came through a third party.
According to Yerima,” the payment
that came through a third party is as a result of the meeting between myself,
Air Comodore Yushau (a retired Air Commodore
and former director of finance and account) and Badeh. This was
prior to my meeting with Air Commodore Yushau and Barrister Timothy Muje. At the meeting,
Yushau introduced Timothy to me as the lawyer to Air Chief Marshall Badeh since he (Yushau) was retiring. He said I should transfer all the necessary
documents to the lawyer (Timothy).’’
He stated that, “Yushau
came to the said meeting with prepared Deed
of Assignment
and Power
of Attorney
with his company’s name and another document transfering the title from Ryte
Builders to Edile Construction Company. He was given a copy to sign and he did.
He said he handed over to Timothy, the original Certificate of Occupancy, C of O, and the Deed
of Assignment.”
After the tranfer of the
documents, Yerima claimed that he
recieved
the sum of N108
million.
’’I recieved an alert
from one Vetivo Nigerian Limited. I called Badeh and he confirmed that
Vetivo Nigeria
Limited
was his and he instructed
that the money be paid into my company’s account”, Yerima revealed.
He further narrated how Badeh out of fear
changed his mind from the property that he earlier wanted to acquire for the
construction of his shopping mall at Aminu Kano Crescent and opted for the one
located at the Wuse 2 District of Abuja.
According to Yerima, when the transactions were no longer clear
to him, and he
was denied access
to the Power
of Attorney
he had earlier given
to Badeh and
his men, he became agitated and decided
to tell the
EFCC all that he knew about Badeh and the property he acquired which costs
about N1.8billion
including the land.
’’I was confronted with
some chilling evidences, so many documents like the copies of drawings, list of
quantity survey, statement of accounts and so many other documents related to
the account including e-mail correspondences. At that point, I had nothing to say, but to tell the EFCC exactly the way
things happened”, Yerima said.
The PW4, also narrated
how the Nigerian Airforce Conference Centre
was constructed.
He said,”the Nigerian
Air Force Conference Centre
was constucted in the name of Edile Construction Company. The company operates separate accounts and
all paymets for the construction of the Conference
Centre
go to the company’s account in UBA, Keystone
and StanbicIBTC
bank.”
He added that, all payments made to Ryte Builders in respect
of the mall were made to Ryte’s Builders account with Zenith bank.
At this point, the
prosecution counsel,
Rotimi Jacobs, SAN told the court that he discovered just yesterday that the
witness made additional statement
which he had served on
the first and second defense counsels.
Badeh’s counsel, Akin Olujimi,
SAN,
said, ”for
me to be able to cross examine the witness, I will have to digest this
additional proof to see how it affects our understanding of the prosecution.”
Counsel to the second defendant, S. T. Ologunorisa, SAN, also
aligned himself with Olujimi’s position.
Consequently, Justice Abang adjourned to June 14, 15
and 16, 2016 for further hearing.
Badeh, while being the
CDS, among other things allegedly abused his office between January and
December, 2013. He allegedly used dollar equivalent of the sum of N1.4billion
(One Billion, One Hundred Million Naira) removed from the accounts of the
Nigerian Air Force to purchase properties in choice areas of Abuja.
The offence is in contravention of Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money
Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section
15(3) of the same Act.
Wilson
Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
24th May, 2016
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