An Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission’s prosecution witness, Adeniyi Adebayo, on Monday narrated
before a Federal High Court, Lagos, how the Speaker, Lagos State House of
Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, collected millions of naira in cash from the
House under various headings.
Adebayo did the narration
while continuing his testimony at the ongoing trial of Ikuforiji and his
personal assistant, Oyebode Atoyebi, for alleged money laundering.
Both Ikuforiji and Atoyebi
are being prosecuted by the EFCC for 54 counts of recieving over ₦600m from the
Lagos State House of Assembly without passing through a financial institution
between April 2010 and July 2011.
Adebayo, an EFCC investigator,
commenced his testimony on November 21, before Justice Ibrahim Buba.
He said on Monday that
Atoyebi had admitted that he received millions of naira in cash from the
Accounts Department of the Lagos State House of Assembly on behalf of the
speaker.
According to the witness,
Atoyebi on different occasions collected money in cash on behalf of Ikuforiji
for Ramadan; the speaker’s wife’s orderly; the speaker’s office; running
expenses, and members’ travelling allowances.
He added that sums of money
were also collected from the House of Assembly by Atoyebi for estacodes;
speakers’ residence allowances; and speakers’ guest house allowances, among
others.
Led in evidence by the
prosecutor, Mr. Godwin Obla (SAN), the witness said his team of investigators
got the information through investigations into the cash registers recovered
from the House of Assembly.
Adebayo said, “On August 1,
2011, the second accused (Atoyebi) signed and collected about ₦4,444,770 on
behalf of the first accused (Ikuforiji), with the heading: ‘National Council
for State Legislators Conference, United States’.
“In the cash register, it
was also discovered that on August 3, 2011, the second accused collected the
sum of ₦10m on behalf of the Speaker, and the payment was tagged, ‘Ramadam’. It
was signed and dated August 4, 2011.
“On August 23, 2011, the sum
of ₦1.2m was also collected by the second accused, on behalf of the Speaker,
and the transaction was tagged ‘money for orderly to the wife of speaker’.
“Also in August 2011, the
second accused collected ₦6,464,976 meant for the Powell Foundation event on
behalf of the speaker.”
The witness added that the
sum of ₦2.725m was collected by Atoyebi to enable members of the House of
Assembly participate in the Parliamentary Study Tours and Training in London on
July 12, 2011.
Counsel for the accused, Mr.
Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), however, urged the court to direct the prosecution to
“isolate the documents” it intended to use for the purpose of Adebayo’s
testimony in order to save the time of the court.
In acceding to the lawyer’s
request, Justice Buba urged the prosecuting counsel to sort out documents which
he considered useful for the trial, so as to enhance accelerated hearing of the
suit.
The judge then adjourned the
case to January 7, 8 and 10, 2014 for continuation of trial.
The EFCC said the alleged
offence contravened Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act
2011.
Punch
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