Taraba Cashier Says All Transfers Were Official Payments in Ishaku’s Trial

A cashier from Taraba State Government told the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Monday that all the transfers he made while former Governor Darius Ishaku was in office were official payments.

These payments are part of the N27 billion that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) claims Mr Ishaku and his co-defendant, Bello Yero, who was the Permanent Secretary of the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs of Taraba State, diverted from the state government's funds.

Mr Ishaku and Bello Yero denied the charges from the EFCC.

Taiwo Jones, the cashier, appeared in court on Monday as the third prosecution witness. He was continuing his testimony from previous sessions.

Since June, when he first testified, Mr Jones explained how he received money from local governments in Taraba State into his company's account, P3 Cornerstone. He said he then disbursed the funds to different beneficiaries based on instructions from his bosses.

He mentioned that some money was sent to two of his personal accounts. But, when questioned by Mr Ishaku’s lawyer, Chris Umar, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), he maintained that the transfers were done in an official capacity.

Reading from a statement he gave to the EFCC during the investigation, Mr Jones said, “All the payments being done by myself and John Columba are official payments approved by the then-Permanent Secretary.”

Under Mr Umar’s questioning, the witness read the statement three times, stressing the words, “official payments.”

Mr Jones also confirmed that he made several transfers to other beneficiaries but said these were all based on directives he received.

He listed some transactions, which included transferring N7.5 million, N8 million, N2 million, and N8 million to Ibrahim Saleh on 3 October 2018.

Mr Saleh also got four transfers of N5 million, N1 million, N6 million, and another N1 million on 1 March 2019.

The witness said Prince Emmanuel, also known as Onwuzurike, who had already testified as a prosecution witness, received N10 million, N9 million, N5 million, and N10 million on 9 August 2019. Mr Emmanuel had earlier said he received money through his account and withdrew it on Mr Yero's instructions.

Continuing his testimony, Mr Jones said that on 20 August, Messrs Saleh and Emmanuel received N7 million and made a cheque withdrawal of N8.7 million.

But Mr Jones said he could not provide a total amount of the funds he transferred based on orders, “because of the volume of the transactions.”

He added that he never reported these transactions to the police or EFCC. According to him, he saw nothing wrong with the transactions and felt there was no need to report them.

After this, trial judge Slyvanus Oriji adjourned the case to 5 November.