BY AYO ESAN
A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Michael Wetkas, concluded his examination-in-chief in the ongoing case of diversion of public funds meant for projects in Jigawa State, involving a former governor of the State, Sule Lamido, his two sons, and four others.
Lamido, his sons – Aminu and Mustapha – Aminu Wada Abubakar, Bartholomew Darlington Agoha, their companies; Bamaina Holdings Limited and Speeds International Limited are facing an amended 43-count charge before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, for allegedly defrauding Jigawa State of N1.35billion.
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, March 18, 2021, the witness demonstrated to the Court how the defendants used their companies to receive several payments suspected to be kickbacks from contractors for contracts which were masked as sub-contracts while Lamido was governor.
Wetkas, with the aid of a chart, showed the Court how Lamido received payments into his personal accounts from Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company, Interior Woodworks Limited and A.G Ferrero & Co Limited.
They were contractors in Jigawa State via Bamaina Holdings Limited and Speeds International Limited accounts, which have him and the 3rd defendant, Mustapha, as sole signatories.
While Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company received over N21bn for contracts from the state, the duo of A.G Ferrero & Co Limited and Interior Woodworks Limited allegedly received over N8bn and over N3bn, respectively, for contracts they executed for the state.
Records, according to the witness, showed that A.G Ferrero paid over N114million into the Skye Bank account of Bamaina Company Limited.
Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company also paid over N116m and N273,474,775.00 respectively into both the Access Bank and Unity Bank accounts of Speeds International Limited.
He also noted that cheques totaling about N397,553,470.00 from Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company were paid into the Unity Bank account of Speeds International Limited.
The witness also pointed out that cheques amounting to about N14.8million were paid into the personal account of the first defendant, while N48million was paid into Bamaina Company Limited which has the first defendant as sole signatory.
Wetkas concluded, “Flowing from the activities and investigations conducted, it was revealed that no sub-contracts or contracts for purchase of bitumen, diesel and steel iron, were executed by the defendants’ companies to warrant such payments.
“From the journals recovered from Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company, where the transactions were supposed to reflect if they were carried out, there were no entries for years 2007, 2008 and 2009. Meanwhile, within that period, over N500m was said to be paid for the purported sub-contract or contract.”
Meanwhile, Justice Ojukwu adjourned the matter till May 19 and 20, 2021 for cross-examination of the witness.
