Joshua Dariye Stole N1.8 BILLION – Witness
More than nine years after he was arraigned before a high court in Abuja, legal proceedings have heard how the former governor of Plateau state Joshua Dariye laundered $9 million (roughly N1.8 billion) from the coffers of his former office.
The prosecution, led by Rotimi Jacobs, called its first witness who described to the court how Dariye allegedly diverted Plateau state’s ecological funds.
The witness, Musa Sunday, a detective serving with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said he was involved in the investigation into how Dariye allegedly diverted the funds while serving as governor.
Ex-Plateau governor Joshua Dariye
He told the court how Dariye allegedly applied for the ecological fund on behalf of his state in 2001 but collected the money in person and diverted it for his own nefarious purposes.
Sunday said that upon receiving the cheque for the ecological fund, the former governor handed over the funds to his private banker, the Abuja branch manager of All States Trust Bank Plc (now defunct), with instructions on how they should be disbursed.
The name of the former bank manager was not disclosed in court.
Sunday added that an investigation by EFCC operatives revealed that the bank manager acting on Dariye’s instruction paid N100 million in the name of “Peoples Democratic Party South-West” and the funds were later traced to a company – Marine Float Nigeria Limited – said to be owned by the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
He said efforts to make Atiku to refund the money had so far failed and the whereabouts of the cash is currently unknown.
Dariye is being tried before Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja.
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Joshua Dariye was the governor of Plateau state from 1999-2007.
Aside from the corruption charges he presently faces, Dariye has faced other legal troubles.
He was impeached in 2007 after political riots broke out in his state, however the federal supreme court ruled to quash the move.
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