The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday accused the immediate past National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), of compromising the security of the nation and committing economic sabotage through his alleged diversion of over N32bn meant for the purchase of arms to fight terrorists in the North -East.
The commission, which also gave more details about the alleged diversion of funds meant for the purchase of arms by the office of the NSA during Dasuki’s tenure, said there were documents showing that the ex-NSA gave the approval for the release of the funds to the accounts of private companies and individuals for the procurement of arms.
EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), said this before Justice Yusuf Baba of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, while opposing the bail applications filed by Dasuki and his co-accused persons, who are being prosecuted on 19 counts of conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and dishonest misappropriation of the money.
The other accused persons, who had pleaded not guilty to all the 19 counts on Monday, are a former Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the NSA, Shuaibu Salisu, and a former Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Aminu Baba-Kusa, and two companies.
The two companies, in which Baba-Kusa are their directors, are Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited. Jacobs, who said the accused persons were still under investigation for other “aspects of the case”, added that the EFCC was still tracing assets linked to the proceeds of the diversion of the funds.
The EFCC, however, alleged that Dasuki had purchased houses in London and Dubai with the proceeds of the funds meant for the purchase of arms for the soldiers battling the terror group, Boko Haram, in the North-East states.
The prosecution also alleged in its counter-affidavit that Dasuki transferred huge sums of money to companies whose identities were still being traced, adding that he transferred large sums of money outside Nigeria to acquire “several assets in Dubai and London.’’
Its counter-affidavit also read, “That our investigation also revealed that the applicant transferred large sums of monies outside Nigeria and he acquired several assets in Dubai and London with these funds.”
The defence lawyers, representing the accused persons – Ahmed Raji (SAN) for Dasuki, A. U. Mustapha for Salisu, and Solomon Umoh (SAN) for Baba-Kusa and his companies – had, while moving their respective bail applications, maintained that the charges filed before the court did not indicate that the money in question was meant for the procurement of arms.
But Jacobs, in picking holes in the lawyers’ contention, referred the judge to pages 14 to 58 of the prosecution’s proof of evidence, which he said contained documents detailing the approval of the former NSA for the release of various sums of money to individuals and private companies for the procurement of arms.
Jacobs said, “In our proof of evidence, we mentioned security money meant for purchase of arms. We also mentioned security equipment, but they decided not to look at it. ‘‘Page 14 to page 58 of our proof of evidence showed approval for the supply of security equipment, satellite and arms. All the charges we filed were based on funds approved for the purchase of arms.”
In a counter-affidavit, deposed to by an EFCC detective, Hassan Saidu, the anti-graft agency alleged that the funds were released to private companies and individuals “who have nothing to do with the supply of security equipment or rendering security services”. Punchng
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