Alleged ₦3.1bn Fraud: How I Delivered $15.8m Cash To Suswam In His Residence — Witness

In the trial of former Benue State governor Gabriel Suswam, Abubakar Umar, the Sixth Prosecution Witness, testified before Justice Peter Lifu at the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja. He stated that in 2014, he converted ₦3.1bn wired to him by Suswam and delivered it to him in cash at his Maitama, Abuja residence.

Dele Oyewale, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s Head of Media and Publicity, announced this in a statement issued on Saturday.

Suswam and his then-Commissioner of Finance, Omodachi Okolobia, were charged with 11 counts of money laundering totalling ₦3.1 billion. The proceeds came from the sale of the state government’s shares held by Benue Investment and Property Company Limited, which were sold through Elixir Securities Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited.

The witness, a bureau de change operator and CEO of Fanffash Resources, has been testifying on the matter since 2018, first before Justice A.R Mohammed and later before Justice Okon Abang. He revealed that Suswam and his then Commissioner of Finance, Omodachi Okolobia, are facing 11-count amended charges of money laundering to the tune of 3.1bn, which was transferred to him through a proxy in tranches with the first.

Prosecutor Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, presented evidence that Umar’s proxy for naira transactions was a woman.

The witness stated that he converted ₦3.1 billion to dollars, resulting in $15.8 million at a rate of ₦197 per dollar, and handed it to Suswam at his Maitama, Abuja, apartment.

“One day in 2014, while I was in the office, the former governor of Benue State invited me to visit him at his home in Maitama, Abuja. I went to meet him in the house, along with one fair woman. He requested me to give the woman my account number. I provided the woman my Zenith Bank account number. The woman stated she’d deposit money into that account.

“On August 8, 2014, N413 million was transferred to my account.” After consulting with the prior governor, I requested time to convert the currency to dollars. Three days after purchasing the dollar equivalent, I called the former governor to advise him that the funds were ready. He now instructed me to deliver the money to his home in Maitama, near the Jumat Mosque. I now told him that he needed to notify the security guards at the gate that I was coming; otherwise, they would not allow me to enter. I got a cab to the house, and when I arrived, I knocked at the gate, which opened. I told them my name. They unlocked the first and second gates, and I waited in the waiting area, where he came to greet me. I presented the money, which we both agreed was the equivalent of N413 million. “Back then, the exchange rate was N197,” he remarked.

Testifying further, he stated, “On September 12, 2014, N637 million was deposited to my account. After N637 million was deposited to my account, another N363 million was transferred within around 40 minutes. On October 13, 2014, N630,008,50 (Six Hundred and Thirty Million, Eight Thousand, and Fifty Naira) was likewise sent into my account. On October 17, 2014, 1,0068,000 (one billion, sixty-eight million) was put into my account. The woman was directed by the prior governor to make the transfers. The entire amount transferred into my account was N3 billion.

The witness stated that he was not arrested by the EFCC for giving testimony in favour of the defendant, nor was he threatened by the Commission to give evidence against the defendant. He also stated that he did not have receipts or a record book for the transactions, as he buys dollars from fellow retailers and only records based on discretion.

Justice Lifu delayed the case until October 4, 2024, for the continuation of the trial.