Witness recounts how former Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido and his sons allegedly defrauded the state

Read the Press statement from EFCC below...
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, on April 11, 2016,
presented more witnesses in the on-going
trial of former Governor of Jigawa State,
Sule Lamido, his two sons, Aminu and
Mustapha, and two others before Justice
Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High
Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja.
They are being prosecuted on a 27-count charge
bordering on the abuse of office and money
laundering. Prosecution witness, Micheal
Wetkas, an operative of the EFCC, who testified
as PW18, revealed how Lamido, his sons, and
cohorts received kickbacks, while masquerading
the same as proceeds for executed sub-
contracts.
He told the court that investigations into the
alleged fraud started in 2007 through to 2015.
"We discovered that Dantata and Sawoe
Construction Company, which executed over 21
contracts totaling almost N30bn, had
continuously paid over N1bn into the accounts
of Speeds International Limited and Bamaina
Holding Company - both accounts whose sole
signatory is Alhaji Sule Lamido," he said.
Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company,
according to Wetkas, was one of the contractors
to the state. He said, "Investigations also
revealed that about N100m of third party
cheques were cleared into the Access Bank
Account of Speeds International Limited, where
the 3rd defendant (Mustapha Sule Lamido) is a
signatory.
"These revelations resulted in the invitation of
the Managing Director of Dantata and Sawoe
Construction Company, one Mr Udo, to the
Commission, where Udo claimed that the monies
paid were for sub-contracts awarded by Dantata
and Sawoe Construction Company to the
defendants' companies for supplies of Bitumen,
Diesel and Steel Iron Wrought - construction
consumables used by the company.
"A close inspection of Dantata and Sawoe's
electronic records, physical books, financial
statements, consumable journals, and waybills
by the investigators and the forensic team
revealed discrepancies which could not be
explained. "In one of such cases, a forensic
report revealed that entries dating back to
between 2007 and 2013 were only entered into
records in 2014-2015, long after EFCC
investigations had commenced. "Upon further
questioning, the 9th defendant, one Mr
Bartholomew could not provide any evidence
that the company had procured any items to
execute the sub-contract.
"As part of the investigation, the team of
operatives discovered another company, A.G.
Ferrero and Co. Limited, which was also a
contractor to the state between 2007 and 2013,
when the 1st defendant was the governor of
Jigawa State. A.G. Ferrero was awarded
contracts by the Jigawa State Government, one
of which was the construction of the Jigawa
State Secretariat, Dutse. The contract for the
project was initially awarded for N6bn but later
reviewed to over N9bn.”
Wetkas further told the court that one Interior
Woodwork Limited was awarded contracts by
the Jigawa State Government for interior
furnishings, and consequently made payments of
N65.5m and N48m into accounts of the 3rd and
6th defendants' accounts, respectively. He added
that the 4th defendant, Aminu Wada Abubakar,
had introduced one Alhaji Suraju Ahmadu, MD/
CEO of Rauda Integrated Services Limited, who
had previously testified as PW12, to the 3rd
defendant, Mustapha Sule Lamido, under the
guise that he (Aminu) was going to assist
Ahmadu to secure contracts from the Jigawa
State Goverment. Alhaji Ahmadu thereafter
handed over his company profile documents for
that purpose.
He said, "Alhaji Ahmadu subsequently got and
executed two (2) contracts, valued at a sum of
N62m. During the course of investigation,
however, other contracts were discovered to
have been executed by the duo of Mustapha
Sule Lamido and Aminu Wada Abubakar, totally
over N150m.
"We discovered an account in Access Bank in the
name of Rauda Integrated Services Limited
which had the 3rd and 4th defendants as
signatories, into which part of the payments for
these contracts, which had been executed
without the knowledge of the owner of the
company, had been paid."
Another prosecution witness, Rasaq Adetuyi, a
compliance officer at Access Bank Plc, who
testified as PW17 had earlier presented to the
court duly certified account statements of
Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company
which were admitted in evidence as Exhibit
EFCC 58 (1-14). Among other evidences tendered
were: letters written to the Corporate Affairs
Commission (CAC) to confirm the existence of
the companies involved, which were admitted in
evidence as Exhibit EFCC 59a, b, EFCC 60 and
EFCC 61; as well as, the letter from CAC which
stated that the company, Gada Construction Ltd,
was non-existent, admitted as Exhibit EFCC 62.
Further hearing in the criminal trial has been
fixed for April 12, 2016.