At the resumed hearing on the case on Monday, Bananda, the second prosecution witness was cross-examined by lawyers to the defendants – A. M Aliyu (SAN) and Nureini Jimoh (SAN).
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday cross-examined one Edward Bananda, a prosecution witness in the trial of Ali Bello and Dauda Suleiman, over alleged N10billion fraud, being withdrawals from the Kogi State government’s accounts.
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported that Aliyu Bello and Dauda Suleiman – two nephews of Yahaya Bello (now former state governor) were used to allegedly siphon N10.2 billion from the state government account.
Aliyu and Dauda, alongside one Abdulsalami Hudu, Cashier of Kogi State House Administration (now at large) were arrested and arraigned before Justice James Kolawole Omotosho of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on 10 counts bordering on misappropriation and money laundering to the tune of N10.2 billion.
Aliyu Bello and Dauda Suleiman are accused of fraudulently withdrawing a sum of N10,270,556,800 (Ten Billion, Two Hundred and Seventy Million, Five Hundred and Fifty-six Thousand Eight Hundred Naira), from the Kogi State treasury, which they delivered to a Bureau de Change operator, Rabiu Tafada in Abuja to keep or change to foreign currencies for personal gains.
At the resumed hearing on the case on Monday, Bananda, the second prosecution witness was cross-examined by lawyers to the defendants – A. M Aliyu (SAN) and Nureini Jimoh (SAN).
While being questioned by Jimoh (who represented Suleiman), was handed three statements of accounts belonging to the state government and asked to recall if the defendants made withdrawals.
Bananda, who had said most of the withdrawals were made by Hudu Abdusalam, a cashier at the Kogi State House, told the court that he could not recall if the defendants made withdrawals from the accounts.
Again, when asked if he could identify Hudu Abdusalam among the two defendants, the witness said he could not.
The witness who was taken through some pages of the account statements by Jimoh, noted that most of the inflows were security funds belonging to Kogi State Government.
He said none of the withdrawals in the account statements exceeded the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stipulated cash withdrawal limit of N10 million.
Reading from one of the account statements, the witness explained that on May 24, 2019, there was an inflow of N50m; N100m on May 27, 2019; N50m on May 31, 2019; N50m on July 3.
The witness who said all the inflows were security funds, noted that they were also withdrawn in tranches of N10m each.
When Jimoh suggested to the witness that the funds were meant for security purposes of Kogi State, Bananda said he did not know.
Under cross-examination by Aliyu (who represented Bello), the witness said one of the accounts belonged to Kogi State Government House Administration.
Bananda said funds in the account belong to the Kogi state government and that there are names and signatories to the account.
After the cross-examination, the prosecuting lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) indicated his intention to call another witness.
The trial judge, Justice James Omotosho adjourned till February 6 for the continuation of trial.