An
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigation officer, Tosin
Owobo, yesterday testified that three former Nigeria Air Force (NAF)
officials allegedly diverted N21 billion to their personal accounts from NAF’s.
He said they diverted the cash
through several companies, which they registered personally. None of the
companies had any transaction or contract with NAF, he claimed.
Owobo was testifying in the trial
of a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd), former NAF
Chief of Accounts and Budgeting Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun and former
Director of Finance and Budget Air Commodore Olugbenga Gbadebo.
EFCC
accused them of converting N21billion from NAF through various companies.
The companies are: Delfina Oil
and Gas Ltd, Mcallan Oil and Gas Ltd, Hebron Housing and Properties Company
Ltd, Trapezites BDC, Fonds and Pricey Ltd, Deegee Oil and Gas Ltd, Timsegg
Investment Ltd and Solomon Health Care Ltd.
Led in evidence by prosecution
counsel Rotimi Oyedepo, Owobo said N5.9billion was transferred from NAF’s
accounts to Delfina Oil and Gas.
He said after the money was
converted to dollars, it was handed over to Gbadebo, who took it to Adigun,
who in turn took it to Amosu.
He said Mcallan Oil and Gas
received N6.1billion from NAF. Trapezites BDC received N3.6billion.
Owobo said Deegee Oil and Gas
received N800million from NAF accounts. Timsegg got the same amount.
These
companies were not into oil and gas. The N21billion was moved from various NAF
accounts without appropriation,” he said.
Owobo said Adigun admitted during
interrogation that he opened Delfina Oil and Gas’s bank account and ran it
and the others.
“There was no contract of memorandum
of understanding between Delfina Oil and Gas and NAF,” he said.
The witness said Adigun
incorporated Mcallan Oil and Gas and opened its bank account, which he also
operated.
“There was no service rendered to
NAF by the company,” he said.
Owobo said Deegee Oil and Gas’s
bank account, which was also allegedly used to divert funds, was operated by
Gbadebo..
“He controlled the account which
received funds from NAF. There was no contract or MOU between them, and no
service was rendered by Deegee Oil and Gas to NAF.
“Timsegg Investment also belongs
to Gbadebo. There was no service rendered by Timsegg to NAF,” he said.
Owobo told the court that Adigun
owns Hebron Housing and Properties, which also received funds from NAF, despite
not rendering any service to it.
According to him, all the
accounts had a single accounts officer, Mrs Funke Osinsanmi, at the bank where
they were domiciled.
The EFCC operative said the
account officer would receive instructions from Gbadebo, liaise with various
Bureaux de Change operators to convert the sums to dollars, and hand them over
to Gbadebo and other NAF “bank runners”.
Owobo said the banker introduced
the owner of Trapezites BDC to Adigun, who eventually sold the company to him.
“We interviewed Adigun who
confirmed to have received dollars from Gbadebo. He said he received
instructions from Amosu on what the dollars were to be used for. Some were
handed over to him (Amosu).
“We interviewed Amosu and he
confirmed to have received dollars from Adigun and that all operations and
financial transactions were carried out by his instruction to the director of
finance, and that all the withdrawals from the NAF accounts were made via
instructions from him,” the witness said.
Owobo said the funds transferred
from NAF accounts were not part of the defendants’ salaries or allowances.
“The funds in these company
accounts were not their salaries. The funds came from various NAF operations
accounts which receive funds from CBN for general operations. These were not
their salary accounts,” he said.
Owobo said some of the funds from
Hebron Housing and Properties were used to acquire properties for the
defendants.
He said a developer, Babatunde
Omolehin, of Canon Projects, told EFCC investigators that he met Adigun who
informed him that he owned Hebron Housing and Properties.
He (Omolehin) subsequently
received N1.4billion from Adigun to develop some properties from him.
Owobo said the properties include
40A Bourdillion Road, Ikoyi, which is of 300 square meters; 12 blocks of flats
in Parkview Estate, and another 12 blocks of flats on Victoria Island.
“The properties were not
purchased in the name of NAF but by Adigun. He also purchased the properties in
Abuja,” he said.
Owobo said over N600million was
transferred to a company, Right Option Oil and Gas, for the purchase of two
properties in the United Kingdom through Adigun’s brother.
According to him, the company, in
turn, transferred about $3million to UK for the properties, which he said were
not bought in NAF’s name.
“They were for Amosu and Adigun,”
he said.
Owobo testified that N2.1billion
was used to purchase diagnostic equipment from General Electric for Solomon
Health Care, allegedly owned by Amosu.
He said General Electric
confirmed receiving the funds from Solomon Health Care for the equipment, and
that the money was transferred from Delfina Oil and Gas.
Owobo said so far over N2billion
had been returned to the Federal Government by Amosu. Some properties, he said,
have been temporarily forfeited.
The trial continues tomorrow.
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