A former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Andrew Yakubu, who is facing money laundering charges, said on Wednesday that the total of $9.7million and £74, 000.00 found in his house by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2017, were gifts from people.
Yakubu told the Federal High Court in Abuja that he received the money in tranches of not more than $10, 000 and not more than £5, 000, on special occasions such as birthdays and Thanksgiving services.
Tipped by a whistle-blower, the EFCC had raided Yakubu’s guest house at Sabon Tasha, Kaduna State, and recovered the alleged loot in foreign currencies.
The sum of $9.7million and £74,000, according to the EFCC, had been hidden in a fireproof safe in his house.
An interim order for the forfeiture of the recovered monies to the Federal Government was thereafter given by the Federal High Court in Kano on February 13, 2017.
The trial court, on May 16, 2019, struck out counts 5 and 6 of the six-count criminal charge against Yakubu, based on a no-case-submission that was made by the defendant.
Following an appeal by the Defendant, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal also struck out counts 1 and 2 of the charge and ordered him to open his defence with respect to only counts 3 and 4.
At the resumed proceeding at the trial court on Wednesday, the Defendant, led in evidence by his lawyer, Ahmed Raji, SAN, said, “I confirm that the monies were contained in a safe taken from my property. As I stated in my statement with the EFCC, the money found in the safe is mine. The money was not received in bulk. It was received in tranches of not more than $10, 000. 00 and not more than £5, 000. 00 pounds.
“A substantial part of that amount was given to me after I left service. It was given to me on such occasions as birthdays, thanksgiving services, and other celebrations that I hosted after leaving my office.”
Yakubu added, “I also hosted marriages of my daughters. In fact, over 98 per cent of the money came from gifts. The purpose of keeping the money was to think of business ventures I would embark on, but it was not my intention to go into business investment without going through a financial institution.
“Since the money was given to me unexpected, I kept the money in a safe, pending when I decide on a specific business venture to embark on. And as soon as the decision is crystalised, the business would be funded through the financial institutions.”
He said for over 25 years, he had reason, by virtue of his schedule, to travel to many parts of the world and was entitled to estacodes in United States Dollars.
The defendant said, “Any saving I made during the trip, I came back and saved. The other two per cent of the funds recovered from my safe was from such savings I made from travels.
“The prevailing rate of dollar at that time was an average of N150 to a Dollar and N250 to a Pound Sterling. That was about the bank rate at that time… When I was asked the time frame within which the safe was placed in the location, I told them that it was within 2010 to 2014.”
