In the ongoing ₦3.1 billion fraud case, a witness testifies about delivering $15.8 million in cash to former Governor Gabriel Suswam at his residence. Get the details of this explosive testimony.
Abubakar Umar, the sixth prosecution witness in the trial of former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam, testified before the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, presided over by Justice Peter Riff, on how he paid the sum of N3.1 billion in 2014. Suswam transferred to him as governor and handed him the equivalent of $15.8 million in cash at his residence in Maitama, Abuja. This was disclosed in a statement on Saturday by the Director of Media and Public Relations, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Dele Oyewale. Suswam, together with the then Minister of Finance, Omodachi Okorobia, faced 11 amended charges of money laundering amounting to N3.1 billion. This was part of the proceeds from the sale of state government shares held in his name by Benue Investment and Property Company Limited and sold through Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited.
During the court hearing, the witness, a currency operator and CEO of Funfash Resources who has been testifying on the case since 2018, first before Justice A.R. Mohammed and later before Justice Okon Abang, revealed that during the court hearing, Suswam and the then Minister of Finance, Omodachi Okorobia, were charged with money laundering and convicted on 11 counts. The sum of N3.1 billion was transferred by Swam through his agents in multiple instalments with the first N413 million arriving in his account on August 8, 2014 and the balance thereafter reaching a total of N3.1 billion.
Umar, during his testimony by the prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), admitted that the agent who made the N3.1 billion transfer to him was a woman.
According to witnesses, he said he needed to exchange the sum of 3.1 billion naira for dollars, which would be equivalent to $15.8 million at the rate of 197 naira to the dollar, and presented it to Suswam at his home in Maitama, Abuja, handover.
“One day in 2014, during my tenure, the former Governor of Benue State asked me to meet him at his home in Maitama, Abuja. I went to meet him at his home accompanied by a light-skinned woman. He asked me to give the woman my account number. I gave the woman my Zenith Bank account number. The woman said she would transfer the money to this account:
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“On August 8, 2014, 413 million naira was transferred to my account. I then called the ex-governor and he told me to convert the money into dollars. I asked him to give me time to do this. Three days after buying the dollar equivalent, I called the ex-governor and told him the funds were ready. He in turn told me to take the money to his house in Maitama, near Jumat Mosque. I told him to inform the security at the gate that I was coming or else I would not be able to enter the gate. I took a taxi to the house and when I arrived I knocked on the gate and they opened it for me. I told them my name. They opened the first and second gates and I sat in the waiting room while he came to pick me up. I have now withdrawn the money and we both confirmed that it was the equivalent of 413 million naira. The exchange rate at the time was 197 naira,” he said
In a further statement, he said: “On the 12th of September 2014, 637 million naira was transferred to my account. “After N637,000,000 was transferred to my account, about 40 minutes later N363,000,000 was also transferred to my account. On October 13, 2014, N630,008.50 (Six hundred and thirty-three million eight hundred and fifty naira) was also transferred to my account. On October 17, 2014, N10,068,000 (One billion sixty-eight million) was transferred to my account. It was a woman who was instructed by the former governor to transfer the money. The total amount transferred to my account was N3,000,000,000.”
A witness who stated that he was neither arrested by the EFCC for testifying on behalf of the accused nor was he ever threatened by the Commission to testify against the accused. He also disclosed that he has no receipts for the transactions and therefore no records of the transactions. He stated that he bought the dollars from a colleague at the retail store and only kept records at his own discretion.
Justice Riff adjourned the case to October 4, 2024 for continuance of the trial.
