An investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday told an Abuja high court how funds running into hundreds of millions of naira were allegedly transferred from the office of the national security adviser (ONSA) to companies linked to former government officials.
The witness, testifying as the first prosecution witness
(PW1), appeared before C.O. Agbaza, judge of the federal capital territory
(FCT) high court, Maitama, in the trial of Sambo Dasuki, former national
security adviser (NSA).
Dasuki is standing trial alongside Aminu Baba-Kusa, former
general manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and two
firms — Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited.
The defendants are facing a 32-count amended charge
bordering on criminal breach of trust and money laundering to the tune of N33.2
billion.
Led in evidence by Rotimi Jacobs, the prosecution counsel,
the EFCC investigator said letters were written to the Corporate Affairs
Commission (CAC) to determine the ownership of companies that featured during
the investigation, including Acacia Holdings Limited, Aravcaria Farms, Reliance
Referral Hospital Limited, and Pinmax Security and Gas.
He said CAC’s response showed that Acacia Holdings is owned
by Baba-Kusa, while Aravcaria Farms and Pinmax Security and Gas are sister
companies.
He added that Baba-Kusa’s wife was listed as a major
shareholder in Acacia Holdings, with 1.8 million shares. The documents were
admitted in evidence as exhibits E1 to E4.
The witness said the EFCC also obtained records of ONSA’s
operations account with Zenith Bank (account number 101419287), including
payment mandates directing the financial institution to debit N650.75 million
from the account and credit Acacia Holdings’ accounts with United Bank for
Africa (UBA) and Ecobank, as well as Reliance Referral Hospital’s First Bank
account.
According to him, the payment instructions were duly signed
by Dasuki.
The investigator added that UBA account records for Acacia
Holdings showed another N200 million transfer from the ONSA account on October
9, 2014, in addition to the N600 million earlier received.
He said analysis of the transactions revealed several
disbursements to individuals and related entities.
“On October 14, 2014, N3 million was withdrawn by Atahiru
Maccido, a staff and financial controller of Acacia Holdings. The following
day, N1 million was transferred to Aravcaria Farms, while N2 million was used
to offset a director’s loan in two separate tranches of N1 million each,” the
witness told the court.
After hearing the testimony, the judge adjourned the case to
January 13, 14, and 15, 2026, for continuation of trial.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com