Tunde Bakare
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 adjourned the trial of former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman to April 7,10, 14 and May 2, 2025 for trial within trial.
The Court while delivering ruling on the objection by defence counsel, Femi Atte, SAN alleging that the confessional statement made by Mamman at the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on February 20, 2024 was not voluntarily made, held that the issue of involuntary statement and other grounds of objections raised by the defence counsel can only be resolved by conducting a trial within trial to ascertain their veracity.
“Consequently I thereby order for trial within trial to determine the voluntariness or otherwise of this case,” he said.
Mamman is being prosecuted by the EFCC in relation to the Mambilla Power Project on a 12-count charge, bordering on conspiracy to commit money laundering to the tune of N33,804,830,503.73 (Thirty-Three Billion, Eight Hundred and Four Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty Thousand, Five Hundred and Three Naira, Seventy-three Kobo).
Abubakar, an investigator with the EFCC and the Seventeenth Prosecution Witness, PW17, while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, disclosed that sometime in 2023, his team received intelligence that money meant for Mambilla Power Project was being diverted to private use for which they swung into action.
“A lot of investigation activities were carried out with commercial banks, Central Bank of Nigeria and Corporate Affairs Commission, which revealed that there were more than 10 companies’ accounts used that were linked with bureau de change operators like Breathable Investment, Fullest Utility Concepts, Golden Bond Nigeria Ltd, among others”
“While analyzing the account statements, it was revealed that over N26 billion had left the Ministry of Power through bureau de change operators’ accounts on the instructions of the defendant and his cohorts. Upon the findings, we proceeded to invite the defendant. He reported and volunteered his statements in the presence of his lawyer of choice before me, alongside my team members who took his statements,” he said.
He confirmed that all the statements of the defendant were taken voluntarily in the presence of his counsel on February 20, May 10, 11, 12, 15, 17 and August 3 and 9, 2024.
The prosecution counsel tendered the statement of the defendant in evidence but was opposed by the defence counsel, alleging that the statement of the defendant on February 20, 2024 was not voluntarily made as the defendant, he said, was threatened and forced to write his statement against his will.
Earlier in the proceedings, the 15th Prosecution Witness, PW15, Okoafor Chinyere Nnenna, a staffer of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and Deputy Manager, Domestic Payment, in charge of managing government accounts, in her testimony, disclosed that her unit got a letter from EFCC to furnish it with information on the account of Ministry of Power and the response, she said, was submitted to the Commission on April 3, 2024,duly signed by her director.
“We generated the report from our system with the cover letter of CBN and attached letter of account statements which we submitted to them. All payments come with a physical mandate and follow the same process,” she said.
The16th Prosecution Witness, PW16, Veronica Asmau Sampam, a First Bank compliance coordinator for the North, also disclosed that the bank received a letter from the EFCC in October 2024 informing them of investigation activities regarding the account of Idris Musbahu.
She said the bank furnished the Commission with the statements of account, account opening information and other information as generated from its data.