Bashiru Yuguda ordered payment of over N1.5 billion - Witness

– Witness claims payments for PDP campaign was made to banks on Bashiru Yuguda’s orders –  Yuguda currently facing trial in an Abuja High Court A witness in the ongoing trial of the former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Haliru Mohammed on Tuesday, February 23, told the court that the ex-minister of finance for state, Bashiru Yuguda ordered the payment over N1 billion for PDP election campaign.

Rukayyat Ibrahim, an analyst at the forensic and accounting unit of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) during her examination said the analysis of BAM Projects account with Sterling Bank showed that the account received a total of N300 million (different from the first N300 million) in two tranches of N150 million each on February 27, 2015.

She said the transfers were made from the account of Ja’ama Ada global services limited. “Before we even called for this account we already had Ja’ama Ada global services limited; we were already investigated the company in a different matter. “We discovered that Ja’ama Adda is a bureau de change company and that the company received payment of a little over N1.5 billion from ONSA,” she added. She said the company also received payments from the Nigeria air force and accountant general’s office among several other sources. Ibrahim said: “We interviewed the owner of the account and business and he stated that all the deposits I mentioned earlier were made on the instructions of the former minister of finance state, Bashiru Yuguda.” She added that the owner of the account said that disbursement of the funds were on Yuguda’s instructions including the transfer he made to BAM Projects account. “BAM Projects and Properties Limited was paid N300 million for payment for safe houses, the witness tagged PW1 said. She said a N30 billion payment was subsequently made on March 11, 2015 by the AGF to the national security adviser.

“And on March 17, 2015, N300 million out of the N30 billion was paid out from ONSA account and when wr requested for the details of the particular transaction, it revealed that BAM Projects and Properties Limited received N300 million from ONSA,” she said. Yuguda, Dasuki and four others are currently facing trial in an Abuja High Court in connection with the same matter. Before her examination, Ibrahim tendered statement of accounts of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the mandate of payment from the Central Bank of Nigeria. She gave evidence on the origin of N300 million paid into the account of the second defendant, BAM Projects and Properties Limited backing her claims with documents relating to the correspondence between the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, ministry of finance and ONSA. Ibrahim had earlier told the court that the AGF approved the payment of the N100 billion while the ministry of finance ordered the release through CBN. After the examination of the witness, the judge over the case, Ahmed Mohammed adjourned the matter to Thursday, March 3 for cross-examination of PW1. Haliru and his son, are facing charges of money laundering and receiving huge sum of money from the Dasuki largesse by the EFCC.