Alleged N109bn Fraud: Witness speaks on EFCC’s alleged non-prosecution deal with ex-accountant-general

An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) official has denied an acclaimed promise by the commission not to prosecute former Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Ahmed Idris, who faces charges of stealing about N109 billion from the nation’s treasury.

Abdulhamid Isa Muri denied the claim in his testimony as a witness for the anti-graft agency during Tuesday’s hearing regarding the case at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja.

Mr Muri, an official from the Kano office of the EFCC, testified as the commission’s third witness in a trial-within-trial the court is conducting to determine the voluntariness of an extrajudicial statement Mr Idris gave in writing in June 2022.

The former accountant-general of the federation was removed from office and later arraigned following his arrest by EFCC in 2022.

Arraigned on 22 July 2022, Mr Idris and his co-defendants are facing charges of stealing about N109 billion from Nigeria’s treasury.

His co-defendants, who were similarly accused of complicity in the alleged fraud and other related offences, are Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Usman, Gezawa Commodity Market, and Exchange Limited.

Involuntary statement?

During his ongoing trial, he challenged the admissibility of the statement he made to the EFCC when the prosecutor tendered it alongside similar ones he gave during the investigation.

He argued through his lawyer, Chris Uche, that the statements were not admissible as exhibits because, he said, he did not make them of his own free will.

Mr Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, alleged that Mr Idris made the statements on the promise by the commission not to prosecute him.

The statement that he made in Kano on 10 June 2022 centred on title documents of assets traced to him. He submitted the documents to EFCC before settling down to write the statement.

The court has yet to determine whether or not the statement and others are confessional or in any way incriminating.

‘No promise’

The prosecuting lawyer, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, leading in evidence Mr Muri, who oversaw the taking down of the statement in Kano, asked the witness to react to the defendant’s claim at Tuesday’s hearing.

“The first defendant is alleging that this statement of 10 June 2022 is a product of a promise that he will not be prosecuted. What is your take?” Mr Atolagbe asked.

Responding, Mr Muri said, “It is not true, my Lord,” referring to the trial judge, Yusuf Halilu.

The witness explained that he was not in charge of the investigation of Mr Idris’ case but was only directed “to take his statement.”

Mr Muri said EFCC did not detain Mr Idris at its facility at its Kano zonal office.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how EFCC operatives arrested Mr Idris in Kano, North-west Nigeria, on 22 May 2022 and hours later flew him to Abuja for further investigations.’How

Idris gave his statement’

During Tuesday’s court session, Mr Muri gave an account of how he oversaw the writing of Mr Idris’ statement.

According to the witness, on Mr Idris’ arrival at EFCC’s Kano office on 10 June 2022, he met the then zonal commander, Faruk Dogon Daji, an Assistant Commander of EFCC.

Mr Muri said the zonal commander sent for him and informed him that Mr Idris “came to submit some documents that are linked to the investigation that was ongoing concerning him”.

He said Mr Daji then asked him to go with Mr Idris to take his statement “about the documents”.

The documents in question centred on some assets the EFCC had linked to the alleged crimes for which it investigated Mr Idris.

In December 2022, the commission obtained a court order for an interim forfeiture of assets, including $899,900, N304,490,160.95, and 15 properties in Kano and Abuja linked to the alleged crimes. Mr Idris hails from Kano.

Mr Muri said he took Mr Idris, in company with one Lawal Badamasi, to his office, which he described as “an open office where everybody can come in and go out.”

“I administered a cautionary word, I told him his rights, I wrote out the cautionary word, and he said he understood, and thereafter he volunteered his statement mentioning the documents one after the other and signed the documents with the date of that day,” Mr Muri told the judge.

The judge, Mr Halilu, later discharged the witness after the defence cross-examined him.

He adjourned the matter till 29 October for defence in the trial-within-trial after the counsel to the first defendant cross-examined the witness.