Alleged N33.2bn fraud: Witness told court that former NNPC GM wrote the statement without coercion

A prosecution witness, Salihu Kadir, on Wednesday told the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court that Aminu Baba-Kusa, former General Manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), voluntarily wrote his statement and filled in all the columns self.

Kadir gave testimony at the trial of former National Security Advisor (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd),! on suspicion of money laundering.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged Dasuki with 32 counts of criminal breach of trust, dishonest release, and receiving various amounts of money worth N33.2 billion.

He is accused of misusing security funds in the accounts of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), along with Baba-Kusa, Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited.

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The commission re-indicted the four defendants on March 25 in a case that began in 2015.

The EFCC accused Dasuki, among others, of removing foreign money worth N10 billion from the NSA account.

Accounts at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the 2014 presidential primaries of the then-ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

However, Dasuki and the other defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Judge Charles Agbaza has ordered a trial -within-a-trial to ascertain the voluntariness of Amina Baba-Kusa’s statement.

The order was given following objections raised by Solomon Umoh (SAN), Baba-Kusa’s counsel to the statement of evidence.

Kadir, the third prosecution witness (PW3), was the Assistant Commander II of the EFCC.

He was seized as evidence by the prosecutor, Oluwaleke Atolagbe.

The witness was asked to look at Exhibit “TWT A1-A7 (Baba-Kusa’s statement and tell the court what he knew about the recording of that statement.

“I supervised the recording of Exhibit A4 which was dated November 26 2015. I conveyed words of warning,” he said.

When asked to provide information to the court regarding the chronology of recording the statement, the witness said the statement was taken after a search was carried out at the home and office of the second defendant.