N14.5bn pension scam: Suspects remanded in prison

An Abuja High Court on Thursday remanded six persons arrested for an alleged N14.5bn fraud in the administration of police pension funds in prison. The suspects – Esai Dangabar; a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Niger Delta, Atiku Abubakar Kigo; Ahmed Inuwa Wada; John Yakubu Yusufu; Veronica Uloma Onyegbula and Sani Habila Zira – were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on 16 counts of conspiracy and criminal breach of trust. The charge sheet read to the suspects in the court indicated that between January 2009 and June 2011, in Abuja, the accused persons, being public officers, allegedly diverted the sum of N14.5bn from the police pension funds domiciled in First Bank of Nigeria Plc, an offence punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, laws of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria 2007. They were also accused of stealing N8.9bn between January and December 2009; N4.7bn between January 2010 and February 2011; N858.3m between February 2011 and June 2011; N656.5m on or about January 31, 2011; N462.9m on or about March 24, 2009; and N407.3m on or about December 14, 2010. They were also accused of stealing the sum of N400.2m on or about December 30, 2010; N18m between February 2011 and June 2011; N8.9bn between January 2009 and December 2009; and N4.7bn between January 2010 and February 2011, among others. At the two-hour court sitting, Justice Ababakar Talba ordered the suspects remanded in prison. The defence counsel led by Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) and Mr. J. N. Egwuonu had pleaded with the court to return the suspects to the custody of the EFCC, from where they were brought to court, pending the determination of their bail application. However, Talba refused the prayer and instead, ordered that the suspects be remanded in prison. Justifying the order, the judge said prison custody was the best place to keep persons undergoing trial. Responding to attempts by the counsel to raise objections to the decision, Talba said, “It is an order of the court.” The judge added, “No law permits remand in any custody, apart from prison.” The suspects had earlier pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges after they were read to them by the court clerk. After the accused persons had taken their plea, the prosecution counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, sought for an adjournment for hearing of the suspects’ bail application. Awomolo, who appeared for Dangabar, informed the court that the bail application had already been filed and served on the prosecution. He also noted that the court should be disposed to granting the accused persons bail. Egwuonwu, who appeared for the second to sixth accused persons, aligned himself with Awomolo’s submissions, and pleaded for an early date for hearing of the bail application. The judge thereafter adjourned the matter till April 3, 2012, for hearing of the bail application, and May 28, 2012, for hearing of the substantive matter. A mild drama ensued after the session, as the accused persons remained in the court, to prevent journalists from capturing their faces. While journalists waited by the door of the court for the suspects to emerge from the courtroom, the accused persons remained inside. They refused to leave, even several minutes after a Toyota Hiace bus with Abuja registration number BR 735 BWR, was brought to convey them to prison. Even when newsmen moved into the courtroom to take their pictures, they found that the suspects had bowed their heads and covered their faces. Policemen in the courtroom tried to stop journalists from taking the pictures of the suspects, even though the court session was over. The accused persons eventually emerged from the courtroom, with some of them shielding their faces, more than an hour after the court ended its sitting. A court official, who did not wish to be named, denied the insinuation that the suspects were allowed to remain in the courtroom for over an hour to shield them from journalists. He told our correspondent that the suspects stayed back in the courtroom to sign their detention papers.