Dasuki: How ONSA funds were diverted – Witness



The prosecution on Wednesday opened its case in the trial of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki and others by calling its first witness, who gave details on how public funds were allegedly transferred unlawfully to private firms.



The witness, Adariku Michael, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said investigation revealed how funds were transferred from the account of the Office of the NSA (ONSA) in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to some banks.

The witness said he knew about the case through information he received from the ONSA on September 22, 2015, “alleging abuse of office and money laundering.”

Dasuki and few others which included an ex-director with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Baba-Kusa, former Director of Finance, ONSA, Salisu Shuaibu, and two firms – Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital – are being prosecuted by the Federal Government over their alleged involvement in the diversion N32b public funds.

Led in evidence by lead prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), Adariku also told the court how investigators discovered the private companies into which funds from ONSA were transferred.

The witness said: “When we received the report, we moved into action immediately same day we got the report. We wrote a letter of investigation activity to the Central Bank of Nigeria for us to confirm the allegation regarding the moment of funds from accounts of ONSA to various companies.

“On September 22, 2015, we received a response from the CBN and analysed same. Our analysis showed movement of funds to various companies some of which includes Arcacia Holdings Limited.

“Our findings showed that Arcacia has two accounts, one in UBA and another with Ecobank. We found out that Arcacia account with UBA received the sum of N600million from ONSA account in CBN, while the 2nd account with Ecobank got N650million.

“After the analysis, we wrote to CBN to furnish us with account statements of these companies.

“We wrote to UBA, Ecobank and First Bank in respect of Arcacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital.

“We also wrote to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to get the status of those companies. When we got the CAC response, we equally analysed that.”

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