A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Haliru Bello, told the federal high court, Abuja, on Wednesday that the accused person received N300 million from the office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, under Sambo Dasuki.
Spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Wilson Uwajuren, said in a statement that the witness, Aliyu Mukddas, is a Senior Manager with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Mukddas told Justice A. R. Mohammed that the N300 million was transferred from the ONSA to Bam Projects and Properties, a company owned by former PDP chair.
The money is believed to be part of the funds meant for the purchase of arms to aid the fight insurgency in the North East of the country.
Mukddas, who was led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, O. A. Atolagbe, told the court that the narration on the payment mandate showed that the payment was given as “Safe Houses” which the amount was for N300 million.
When asked by the prosecuting counsel if it is the duty of CBN to know whether the contract was executed, the witness replied in the negative.
The witness, who was manager, between 2010 and 2015, gave details on procedures for payment to Ministries, Department and Agencies.
According to him, agencies would bring their payment schedule showing the date, name of the organization, amount in words/figure and details of beneficiaries.
“The confirmation would be done before us with his name, signature, date and thumb print”, he said.
“When the payment schedule is received, the CBN passes it for verification of signatories and also check account balance before it is passed for payment”.
Mukddas further explained that the ONSA account is managed by CBN and funded majorly by Office of Accountant General of the Federation.
According to him, “the account has two sources of funding, sometimes from office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, and mostly from the Accountant General of the Federation”.
“Between 2012 and 2015, the main signatory to the account was Sambo Dasuki and also another signatory was the then Director Finance and Account S. A. Salisu, while the confirmation officer was Yazeed Ibrahim,” Mukddas said.
The case was adjourned to July 5, 2017 for continuation of trial.