ICPC arraigns Federal Mortgage Bank ex-CEO ‘for diverting $65m housing fund’

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has arraigned Gimba Ya’u, former chief executive officer, of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), for allegedly diverting $65 million housing fund.

The money was for the construction of 962 units of residential houses at the Goodluck Jonathan Legacy City in Kubwa, a satellite town in Abuja.

Ya’u was arraigned alongside Bola Ogunsola, ex-FMBN director, and Tarry Rufus, managing director of T-Brend Fortunes Nigeria Limited, before Justice James Omotosho of the federal high court in Abuja, on Tuesday.

The ICPC, in a five-count charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/333/24, accused the trio of contravening the public enterprises regulatory commission act and the money laundering (prevention and prohibition) act, 2022.

The ICPC accused Ya’u of authorising the payment of N3.78 billion to Good Earth Power Nigeria Limited, a contractor “lacking execution capacity”.

It added that the project remains incomplete “as of today thereby amounting to economic adversity for the bank and in violation of Section 68(1) of the public enterprise regulatory commission act, CAP P39, laws of the federation, 2004”.

The commission alleged that the project’s decade-long incompletion has incurred substantial financial losses for the bank.

The ICPC also accused the defendants of securing a N14 billion loan from Ecobank Nigeria PLC in 2012 for the project and mismanaging the funds.

One of the charges also detailed how the defendants allegedly converted N991 million into $3.55 million and “handed it in cash to Jason Rosamond, a foreign associate,” who is reportedly at large.

The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them.

Following their plea, Omotosho granted them bail on liberal terms and adjourned the trial to February 6, 2025.