Witness details how official allegedly diverted Rural Electrification Agency’s N298 million

A prosecution witness has revealed how a senior staff member of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Usman Kwakwa, allegedly used his company and personal account to divert the agency’s funds.

The witness, an investigator with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Bariki Zaknayaba, appeared in the witness box on Tuesday at the Federal High Court in Abuja to testify in the trial of Mr Kwakwa on corruption charges.

At least seven officials of the agency, including Mr Kwakwa, have been charged separately by the ICPC for various amounts of funds they allegedly stole from the agency between March and July 2023.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the officials allegedly stole up to N1.2 billion through the agency’s payment platform.

In Mr Kwakwa’s case, ICPC charged him with four counts of stealing N298 million before the trial judge, Emeka Nwite.

Testifying in the case as the first prosecution witness on Tuesday, Mr Zaknayaba testified that the investigation revealed how REA’s N130 million and N85 million, totalling N215 million, were unlawfully paid into the bank account of Mr Kwakwa’s company, Bizairabbi General Supply and Co, between March and June 2023.

Led in evidence by ICPC’s lawyer, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, the witness said another N97 million was paid into Mr Kwakwa’s Zenith Bank account within the same period.

According to Mr Zaknayaba, the transfers were made under the pretence of payments for the project monitoring exercise.

He said the money formed part of the N1.2 billion allegedly diverted by some senior workers in the Finance and Account Department of the organisation, including Abubakar Sambo, Director of Finance and Account of the agency.

How investigation began and revelations from it

The investigator said several petitions were received from non-governmental organisations and the National Assembly concerning the activities of the top senior staff members of the organisation.

“The head of the Investigation Department assigned the petitions to our team for investigation.

“The team drafted a strategy, and it was approved.

“The petition is on embezzlement of N1.2 billion against the management of Rural Electrification Agency,” he said.

The witness, who identified Mr Kwakwa in the dock, said the investigation team wrote letters to some banks, including Zenith Bank, First Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) and United Bank for African (UBA) to request the bank statements and account opening packages in relation to the investigation.

“The bank statements and account opening packages were obtained and analysed.

“During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that monies were paid into the accounts of the defendant (Kwakwa) and other accounting officers of Rural Electrification Agency.

“Investigation revealed that from March 2023 to June 2023, the sum of N97 million was paid into the defendant’s Zenith Bank account.

“Also, from March to June 2023, the sum of N130 million and another N85 million was paid into the defendant’s company’s account with the name Bizairabbi General Supply and Co Ltd.

“During the same period, in March and June, some money was transferred to the defendant’s account by the accounting officer of the Rural Electrification Agency.

“All these payments were made from the GIFMIS (Government Integrated Financial Management Information System) platform of the Rural Electrification Agency.

“This payment was made in the narration: Payment for Project Monitoring,” the witness said.

‘No approval’

Mr Zaknayaba told the court that the investigation revealed that there was no written approval by the agency’s authority for the payments.

“A formal procedure starts with a memo by the managing director for approval,” he said, but that did not happen in the case.

“If the Managing Director approves the request, it will be transmitted to Finance and Account, where payment vouchers will be raised.

“After raising the payment vouchers, the approval and payment vouchers will be forwarded to the initiator.

“The initiator will use the documents to input into the computer system.

“The same documents and the payment initiated in the system will be forwarded to the reviewer.

“The reviewer will review the documents, and if he is okay with it, he will then forward it to the finaliser, who will go through the documents and finalise the payment,” the witness said.

According to the witness, none of these happened in the case.

The investigator said the investigative team invited the officials after receiving some accounting staff members of REA, including Mr Kwakwa.

He said the team obtained Mr Kwakwa’s statement voluntarily.

Tendering of exhibits

Mr Zaknayaba confirmed copies of the petitions and bank statements that the prosecution counsel, Akponimisingha, handed him.

However, when the ICPC lawyer sought to tender the documents in evidence to prove their case, Mr Kwakwa’s lawyer, Aliyu Lenu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), objected to the admissibility of the documents.

Mr Lenu argued that the two Zenith Bank account statements were inadmissible because the witness, through whom the prosecution tried to tender them, was not the maker.

He also argued that the statements of account were not properly certified.

The lawyer said there was neither a name nor signature on the documents required for valid certification.

Mr Lenu argued that the copies of the two petitions were also not properly certified, citing sections 104 and 83 of the Evidence Act, 2011, to back his argument.

The prosecution lawyer disagreed with Mr Lenu.

Mr Akponimisingha argued that Mr Lenu’s objection had no foundation in law.

He said that the petitions were submitted to ICPC by an NGO called Stop Corruption in Nigeria Now and the National Assembly, particularly the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives.

Citing section 102 of the Evidence Act, he argued that the documents had become part of public records.

He said the ICPC received the petitions in its public registry in ICPC, entitling the commission to certify it.

The lawyer cited a Supreme Court judicial precedent, which he said had decided that documents recovered during investigation can be tendered in court.

He equally argued that there was no authority regarding certifying bank statements before being tendered as the statements carried Mr Kwakwa’s photograph.

“We said that this objection has no jurisprudential blessings and should be thrown away,” he said.

Ruling on admissibility of exhibits

The trial judge, Mr Nwite, adjourned the matter until 21 November to rule on the admissibility of the documents and for the continuation of the trial.

On 6 June, the ICPC arraigned Mr Kwakwa on four counts of fraud.

He pleaded not guilty to the counts.

The court subsequently granted him bail in the sum of N50 million. The prosecution lawyer, Mr Akponimisingha, did not oppose the defence lawyer’s bail request.

Other staff members facing prosecution over the REA fraud are Henrrientta Onomen Okojie, Emmanuel Pada Titus, Musa Umar Karaye, Aminat Asuni, Laure Abdullahi and Abubakar Sambo, the REA’s Director of Finance and Account.

The defendants face separate trials before Mr Nwite and two other judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja – Bolaji Olajuwon and Nkeonye Maha.

(NAN)