Witness: Dariye diverted N204m to his company

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday presented evidence against Joshua Dariye, a former governor of Plateau state, who is being prosecuted on a 23-count charge bordering on money laundering and diversion of funds, before Adebukola Banjoko, justice of the federal capital territory (FCT) high court, Gudu, Abuja.Dariye, in addition to being accused of siphoning about N1.2bn ecological fund meant for the state, is also alleged to have diverted about N204m meant for the state treasury, to Ebenezer Ratnen Ventures (ERV) – a company he owns.

Led in evidence by prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), the witness, Musa Sunday, a detective with the EFCC, gave details of how money meant for the Plateau state government account, was diverted to ERV.

Sunday told the court that in the course of investigations into several cheque slips recovered from the then Lion Bank (now Diamond Bank), it was discovered that there were several questionable inflows into the account of ERV.

Further probe into the account, according to Sunday, revealed that the source of the funds came from the Plateau state government, but for no services rendered.

Presenting the certified photocopies of various bank drafts in court to prove the fraudulent transfers, Sunday said: “In the course of our investigations, we found out that the origin of the various money credited to Ebenezer Ratnen Ventures with Diamond Bank (then Lion Bank) was from the office of the state’s accountant general.”

Counsel to Dariye, G. S. Pwul (SAN), raised an objection to the admissibility of the photocopies of the bank drafts raised from the cheques, but his objection was overruled by Justice Banjoko, and the documents were accepted as exhibits.

Specifically, Sunday said that the office of the state’s accountant general issued Lion Bank cheques to All States Trust Bank, which were cleared into the account of ERV.

He further said that investigations showed that there were no services rendered by ERV to warrant the payment of the said money, adding that investigations at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) showed that the company was not registered.

He said: “A Lion Bank cheque of N53, 600,643.05 was traced to All States Trust Bank, and it was found to have been cleared in the account of Ebenezer Retnan Ventures, with the source being the state’s Accountant General’s account domiciled in Lion Bank.”

Several of such fraudulent transactions, he said, included a cheque of N15m payable to All States Trust Bank, credited to ERV; another cheque of N8m dated January 17, 2001 payable to All States Trust Bank, was also credited to ERV; another Lion Bank cheque of N10m payable to All States Trust Bank, was also credited to ERV.

According to him, a number of such transactions totalling about N204m, involved Lion Bank cheques converted to drafts and paid into All States Trust Bank, afterwards credited to the account of ERV.

He added that a further probe into the account of ERV with the bank showed that Dariye used money from the account to purchase properties.

He said: “Our investigations showed that money from the account of Ebenezer Retnan Ventures was also moved abroad, to a bank in the UK, the fraudulent transaction subsequently becoming the basis of the request for assistance by the UK Met police to investigate Dariye.”

He told the court that some of the evidence gathered by the EFCC in the course of the investigation was also sent to the UK police to assist in their investigation over there.

“We probed further at the state’s accountant general’s office to know what services were rendered by Ebenezer Retnan Ventures, but they couldn’t produce or show any contract documents necessitating the payment of N204 million,” Sunday added.

The voluntary statements made by Dariye on June 12, 2007, June 13, 2007 and June 15, 2007 during interrogation, were also presented in court.

The statements were given to Dariye, who after pausing to go through the pages, acknowledged that they were statements made by him in the course of the investigations into the alleged crime.

Pwul said: “I have no objection to the admissibility of the statement as exhibit, as my client confirmed it to be his own statement.”

While accepting Dariye’s statement as part of exhibits to be used in prosecuting him, Justice Banjoko adjourned till February 2, for continuation of trial.