A former minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, has said that he left his sick bed to honour the invitation of the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for interrogation over allegations of fraud levelled against him by the commission.
In a video clip played in the open court during his trial, Mamman told Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that he had already told the commission operatives that he was not in the right frame of mind as he was leaving his sick bed during their investigation.
Before the clip was played, Counsel to the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, had told the court that the reason for playing the video was to show the court that a previous statement which the EFCC sought to tender in evidence was made voluntarily by the ex-minister
The minister’s counsel, Mr Femi Atte, SAN, interjected that it was made under duress because the minister was not in his right frame of mind, as he had already told them he had just left his sick bed.
In the video clip, the minister tells EFCC operatives that he left his sick bed to honour the commission’s invitation.
He also denied ownership of a property in Wuse 2 when the EFCC officials asked him during the investigation.
The two-hour video clip was played for 39 minutes in court. The minister spoke in Hausa during the interrogation, but the court interpreter interpreted it in English.
The interpreter occasionally said: “My lord, I did not hear him correctly.
“I will skip where I do not understand”.
The judge responded and said, “Interpret what you hear”.
At the last adjourned date on March 19, a staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and prosecution witness (PW15) in the trial said the apex bank managed the project account on behalf of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).
The witness, Okoroafor Chinyere, a deputy manager of the domestic payment division at the bank, stated this while being led under cross-examination by the defendant’s Counsel, Mr Atte.
Under cross-examination, she confirmed to the court that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) wrote a letter to the bank demanding details on the Ministry of Power, and it was given to them.
While speaking on the project account, which documents were tendered and admitted as exhibits, Okoroafor confirmed that the bank manages the account on behalf of the accountant’s general office.
She agreed on whether she was familiar with the remittal payment process.
However, when asked whether the former minister or his office could make approval, she said: “I cannot say”.
“We don’t receive instructions to make payment on remittal; we only get a directive from OAGF,” Okoroafor said.
The Mambila Zungeru project account is domiciled with the CBN but was solely under the accountant General of the Federation, not under the Minister of power. Only the OAGF has authority over the account.
Okoroafor had told the court that there are procedures for withdrawal from special project accounts, and the Minister has no withdrawal power; only the OAGF has the authority on such accounts.
From all indications, there are questionable tendencies regarding how funds were released from that special project account under the custody of CBN for AGOF and ended up in various bureaus’ change companies accounts, as discovered by EFCC.
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