The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested and detained the former governor of Taraba State, Mr Darius Ishaku in connection with alleged N27 billion fraud.
It was gathered that the accused will be prosecuted on a 15-count charge
In the charge sheet dated September 27, Ishaku and the former permanent secretary of bureau for local government and chieftaincy affairs, Mr Bello Yero, are listed as defendants.
In the suit marked CR/792/24 and filed before a Federal Capital Territory High Court, the EFCC accused the defendants of diverting the sum of N1,010,000,000 to their personal use between August 25, 2015, and March 21, 2016, in Abuja.
The agency said the amount formed part of the 2.5 per cent contingency funds belonging to the bureau of local government and chieftaincy affairs.
The EFCC noted that the duo committed an offence contrary to Section 315 of the Penal Code A, Cap 532, Laws of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria 2007 and punishable under the same section.
Ishaku and Yero were also accused of diverting an aggregate sum of N1, 138,082, 097.71 which formed part of the 2.5 per cent contingency fund belonging to the bureau of local government and chieftaincy affairs between July 2015 and May 2019.
Also, between September 3, 2015, and January 29, 2018, in Abuja, the defendants were accused of diverting the sum of N761, 301,000 to defray the loan of N1bn granted by Zenith Bank Plc. to your company, Worthy Construction Limited.
Ishaku and Yero were also alleged to have, between July 19, 2019 and February 5, 2021 “dishonestly diverted” to personal use an aggregate sum of N3,348,942,411.15 belonging to the bureau of local government and chieftaincy affairs, Taraba State and local government councils in Taraba State.
Other sums that allegedly formed part of the contingency fund diverted by the defendants include N650, 686,369.99 between January 6, 2019, and April 29, 2021; N193, 030,000 between January 2019 and April 29, 2021; and N170, 549,842.00 between January 6, 2019, and April 29, 2021, among others.
