Dariye wanted in London for money laundering, says EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission told a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Gudu, Abuja, on Tuesday, that a former Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Joshua Dariye, was still wanted in the United Kingdom for alleged money laundering.

The commission said the former governor escaped to Nigeria after jumping bail that was granted him in London in 2004.

Dariye, who was later elected Senator, representing Plateau Central in the 2015 general elections, is being prosecuted on 23 counts of money laundering and diversion of Plateau State’s N1.126bn ecological funds while he was the state governor.

Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Mr. Garba Pwul (SAN), on Tuesday, the EFCC’s first prosecution witness, Mr. Sunday Musa, who is also a detective with the anti-graft agency, said the London Investigating Police Officer, Mr. Peter Clark, visited Nigeria in the course of EFCC’s investigation into the case against Dariye.

“The defendant (Dariye) was granted police bail by the UK police and he jumped bail. The Investigating Police Officer in London, Peter Clark, was in Nigeria in the course of our investigation,” Musa said.

Dariye was Plateau State governor between May 29, 1999 and May 2007 but was abruptly impeached in 2004 before he was reinstated.

Seven years after the charges were instituted against Dariye, the trial began on Tuesday following a Supreme Court’s judgment delivered on February 27, 2015, laying to rest an interlocutory application filed by Dariye and which had stalled the case since it was filed in 2007.

The apex court had, after dismissing Dariye’s appeal in the judgment, ordered Dariye to submit himself to trial.

The prosecution had on Monday called Musa as its first witness, who narrated to the court, presided over by Justice Adebukola Banjoko, how Dariye allegedly diverted the state’s N1.126bn ecological funds to his personal bank account.

The witness said investigation by the EFCC operatives revealed that the former governor had, in 2001, applied for the funds in the name of his state.

But Dariye allegedly collected the money in person and lodged it with the Abuja Branch of the All States Trust Bank Plc (now defunct).

The witness added that the bank manager, allegedly acting on Dariye’s instructions, paid N100m in the name of the “PDP South-West”, adding that the money was later traced to a company – Marine Float Nigeria Limited – allegedly owned by a former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

Under cross-examination by the defence counsel on Tuesday, the witness confirmed that the decision by the EFCC to investigate Dariye for alleged money laundering was informed by information provided by the London Metropolitan Police.

He said the case was still pending in London.

 -Punch