- Safiu Kehinde
A prosecution witness, Abubakar Umar, has revealed to an Abuja Federal High Court how he converted N3.1bn in cash and delivered to former Benue state governor, Gabriel Suswam.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the official X handle on Saturday.
As contained in the statement, Umar narrated at the court proceeding presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, how he had in 2014 delivered to Suswam at his Maitama, Abuja residence, a sum N3.1 billion which was wired to him by the ex-Benue governor.
Umar made this disclosure at the court hearing of the 11-counts amended charges of money laundering to the tune of N3.1 billion, involving Suswam, who served as governor from 2007 to 2015, and his former Commissioner of Finance. Omodachi Olokobia.
According to the prosecution witness, who is a bureau de change operator and CEO of Fantfash Resources, he converted the said money to an equivalent of $15.8 million and delivered at Suswam’s residence.
“One day in 2014, when I was in the office, the former governor of Benue State asked me to meet him in his house in Maitama, Abuja.
“I went and met him in the house together with one fair woman. He asked me to give the woman my account number. I gave the woman my Zenith Bank account number. The woman said she’ll send money into that account.
“On the 8th of August 2014, N413 million was transferred to my account. Based on this, I called the former governor and he told me to change the money to dollars and I asked him to give me time to do that.
“Three days after I bought the dollar equivalent, I called the former governor and informed him that the money was ready. He now asked me to take the money to his house in Maitama, near Jumat Mosque.
“I now told him that he should inform the security at the gate that I was coming, if not they’ll not allow me access into the gate. I took a cab to the house, and after I arrived at the house, I knocked at the gate and they opened. I told them my name.
“They opened the first and second gates and I sat in the waiting room where he came and met me. I now brought out the money which we both confirmed to be the equivalent of the N413 million. The exchange rate then was N197”, he said
Testifying further, he said, “On the 12th of September 2014, N637 million was transferred to my account. After N637million was transferred to my account, after like 40 minutes N363million was also transferred into my account.
“On 13th October 2014, N630,008,050, (Six Hundred and Thirty Million, Eight Thousand and Fifty Naira) was also transferred to my account. On 17th October 2014 N1,068,000,000 (One Billion, Sixty-eight Million) was transferred to my account. It is the woman that was directed by the former governor to do the transfers. The total money transferred to my account was N3billion”.
However, the witness disclosed that he did not have receipts for the transactions, so also no record book for them, stating that he buys dollars from his fellow retailers and only records based on discretion.
Meanwhile, Justice Lifu adjourned the case to the 4th of October, 2024, for the continuation of trial.