The trial of a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, began anew today at the Federal High Court in Lagos, with an EFCC Investigating Officer, Mr. Shehu Shuaibu, recounting how N1.5 billion was fraudulently transferred from the Ministry of External Affairs account to a Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited account allegedly belonging to the former Minister.
Fani-Kayode is on trial with Nenadi Usman, a former Minister of State for Finance, Yusuf Danjuma, a former Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), and Jointrust Dimensions Nigeria Ltd.
The witness, who was led in evidence by EFCC prosecutor Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, stated that his team from the EFCC’s Special Task Force was assigned to investigate a petition alleging that a total sum of N1.5 billion was fraudulently transferred from the Ministry of External Affairs account to Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited account No 1010740698 with Zenith Bank.
He said “We commenced investigation immediately and wrote a letter of investigation activities to Zenith Bank requesting for a statement of account of Joint Trust and all the transactions in the account”
“We received the response and analysed them. Our findings revealed that on January 8, 13, and 16 ,2015, the sum of N300 million, N400 million, and N800 million respectively were transferred from the Ministry of Affairs research library account, Ministry of External Affairs research project account, and Ministry of External Affairs research capital account respectively into Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited account.
The money was then sent to Femi Fani-(second Kayode’s defendant) firm account, Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited, at Zenith Bank, according to the witness.
The second defendant removed N200 million in cash between February 20 and the end of March 2015, according to the witness, and another sum of about N250 million between March 20 and 25.
According to the witness, on February 12, one Olubode (now at large) paid N24 million in cash to a company called Paste Poster at No 125 Lewis Street in Lagos, and on February 12, he paid another N60 million in cash to the same company, Paste Poster at No 125 Lewis Street in Lagos Island.
Further hearings in the case have been postponed until March 25 by Justice Osiagor.
