Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Dariye was signatory to account under name Ebenezer retinun, says witness

By Oludare Richards, Abuja
18 June 2016   |   3:38 am
A witness in the trial of former Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), yesterday, told the court that Dariye was a signatory to an account under the name of Ebenezer Retinun Ventures.

court

A witness in the trial of former Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), yesterday, told the court that Dariye was a signatory to an account under the name of Ebenezer Retinun Ventures.

The witness, Adonyi Roberts, who is a former senior manager of the defunct All State Trust Bank, said though the approval form for the account is not in exhibit, the account was signed in the presence of one Mr. A. A. Odesa, who was the then the General Manager, Internal Affairs for the bank, who also signed as a witness.

While under cross-examination by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), Adonyi testified that the bank account had two signatories, one Ebenezer Retinun and Daniel Haruna.

The witness disclosed that it was Dariye’s signature that however, appears under the name Ebenezer Retinun and throughout the document in the account-opening package.

The former governor, now a serving Senator, is being prosecuted before the FCT Court, Gudu, for alleged financial misconduct while he was governor between 1999 and 2007.

Adonye testified before the court that a written instruction was sent to the bank by Dariye to clear a cheque and disburse it into different accounts, including N550 million into Plateau state government’s account and N100 million into PDP South-West account.

The witness added that the disbursement included a bank draft of over N172 million in favour of the said Ebenezer Retinun Ventures on July 19, 2001. He also said the cheque was cleared by the same Ebenezer Retinun.

While he said the cheque is a public fund, he however, said “I don’t agree that it is wrong to clear it into a sundry account”.The witness also confirmed that on July 26, 2001, the sum of N160 million was paid into Ebenezer Retinun Ventures with the narration “being part payment for CBN cheque cleared”.

Adonyi, who said he always dealt with the defendant in official capacity both in Abuja and Jos, also revealed that while he was at the Abuja branch of the bank, his dealings with Dariye was limited to the account name Ebenezer Retinun.

While being led in evidence by defense counsel, Garba Pwul (SAN), the defense witness also revealed that a CBN cheque of N1.161 billion, payable to Plateau State Government, was paid into All State Trust Bank and cleared into a “suspense account” which belongs to the bank and not into Ebenezer Retinun Ventures’ account.

Dariye, who had earlier decided to not enter defence in his trial on allegedly diverting Plateau State’s ecological fund estimated at N1.16 billion, while he was serving as governor in the state, indicated a change of mind on June 14 when his counsel, Garba Pwul (SAN), told the court that his client has now decided to conduct his defence, against his earlier no-case submission.

The counsel had informed the court of four-witness summons he filed to compel four individuals to appear in court and testify for Dariye. Pwul said he had also filed a motion to be heard at the end of trial.

0 Comments