 Dimeji Bankole
Former Speaker of Nigeria's House of Representative
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Witness testifies against Bankole over 42 billion Naira loan
Chukwumerije Aja, Abuja
A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court was on Monday told that the Dimeji Bankole led House of Representatives fraudulently obtained a 42 billion Naira loan from two banks and shared the said amount illegally as allowances for members.
Similarly, the court was told that Bankole approved the increase in the allowances of members of the House of Representatives from 17 million Naira to 42 million Naira per member, per quarter without the authorization of the revenue mobilization and fiscal commission or salaries and wages commission.
A witness of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Mohammed, while testifying in the suit filed by the commission against the former Speaker, Demji Bankole, and the Deputy Speaker, Usman Nafada, said that the allowance paid to the members of House of Representatives was not captured in 2010 national budget.
Conspiracy to defraud the Nigerian government
He said that the fraud was planned at a meeting chaired by Bankole in his house.
The witness said that the minutes of the meeting would be tendered as exhibit probably to show that the accused persons conspired to defraud the Nigerian government of the sum.
Ibrahim who investigated the crime said that following a complaint lodged with the commission, several government establishments were written including the clerk of the National Assembly who produced internal memos between him and the former speaker and the payment vouchers used in the disbursement of the alleged fraud money.
The witness further told the court that the accused obtained the amount on instalment of 10 billion Naira from the United Bank for Africa (UBA) using the House allocation from the Office of the Accountant General as collateral.
“The former leaders of the House obtained 10 billion Naira as loans thrice and when the bank withheld their allocations and there was crisis, the accused approached the First Bank for a 12 billion Naira loan,” the witness testified.
He stated that the monthly allocation from the Office of the Accountant General was duly released to the former House of Representatives. There was also a great discrepancy between Revenue commission approved allowances and the payment made to members, he added.
Another witness, Adebayo Adeniyi, identified as EFCC operative, said that Bankole wrote to the two banks requesting for offers which were obliged him.
He noted that he cannot state how much was credited to Bankole’s account from the amount taken as loan.
In addition, the court yesterday admitted as exhibits the statements made by Demji Bankole and Nafada at EFCC office following their arrests.
Hearing on the case will continue on Tuesday before Justice Suleiman Belgore.
Williams
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