The former accountant general of the federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, on Thursday alleged that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission of coaxed him to implicate himself in the N109.5 billion fraud.
Idris, who, along with his co-defendants is standing trial on 14 charges of stealing and criminal breach of trust, told a High Court of the FCT sitting at Maitama, Abuja that the anti-graft agency said they wanted to use him to prosecute the former minister of finance and some other governors.
The other defendants in the case are an aide to the Idris, Mr. Olusegun Akindele, a director of the federation account, Mr Mohammed Usman, as well as a company, Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited, which allegedly served as the conduit through which a chunk of the stolen funds was siphoned.
Justice Halilu Yusuf had ordered a trial-within-trial in the matter to enable the court to determine whether all the extra-judicial statements Idris made while he was interviewed by the EFCC should be admitted in evidence.
In a statement said to have been written by Idris and dated May 16, 2022, which was partly read out by the prosecution witness, Mr Hayatudeen Ahmed in court on Thursday, the ex-AGF stated that the EFCC promised him that whatever information he supplied would not be used against him.
The prosecution witness read the statement after being cross-examined by Idris’ counsel, Mr Chris Uche.
After reading, the prosecution witness said such assurances were not given, and neither was the accused under duress.
“There was no such assurance. The statements made by Idris on the 25th, 26th, and 31st of May 2022 and the ones on the 1st, 6th, 10th, 20th of June 2022, and 5 July 2022 were made willingly by the defendants contrary to the claims that they were allegedly made under duress,” he said,
The defendant urged the court to reject the said confessional statements which he said were obtained in violation of the provisions of Sections 15(4) and 17(1) (2) of the ACJA 2015, as his lawyers were not present when he made them and the sessions were not recorded.
The EFCC, through one of its lead investigators, Mr Hayatudeen Suleiman, who appeared as a witness in the matter denied the allegation.
He maintained that Idris voluntarily made the statements and was also notified that they would be used in court for the trial.
Suleiman, who obtained some of the disputed statements, tendered in evidence, a video recording of an interview he said the Commission held with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants before they volunteered their statements.
The witness told the trial judge that the three defendants revealed how they shared funds among themselves.
“The defendant came along with his legal representative in the person of Gbenga Adeyemi, who witnessed the statement from the beginning to the end and he also signed.
“We asked questions which he answered. The 1st defendant voluntarily made the statements and was also notified that it would be used in court for trial,” the witness said, adding that he personally recorded the video with a Samsung mobile phone.
“The video was taken after investigation showed that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants benefited from non-existent consultancy from the office of the accountant general while the 1st defendant was in office as the AGF.
“The sharing formula of the money involved was what was being discussed in the video.
“The 2nd defendant was giving a breakdown of how the money was shared,” Suleiman said.
Though the audio of the 15 minutes video clip, which was played in the open court, was not very clear, however, contrary to his earlier submission, the witness admitted that no lawyer was present with the defendants during the interview session.
The witness further admitted that he did not notify the defendants before he carried out the video recording.
Likewise, contrary to the earlier position of the witness that the video was recorded before the defendants made their statements, he admitted that the video was recorded on May 25, 2022, after Idris had already made some of the statements.
He said the cautionary words in the first statement that was made by Idris, was written by another EFCC operative, Mubarak, insisting that the defendant chose to waive his right to have a lawyer present during the session.
“After he finished writing his statement, he was given bail on self recognition. He was not detained because the investigation was at the preliminary stage.”
The witness further said there was no truth in the claim that the 1st defendant was assured by the EFCC that he would not be prosecuted should he nail other highly placed individuals to the alleged fraud.
“It is not true that the defendant was promised that he would not be prosecuted. Nobody gave him any assurance,” the witness added.
Te judge subsequently adjourned the matter till March 20 for continuation of hearing on the trial-within-trial.
With Vanguard report
