Mebrim Uchechukwu
6 June 2008
Abuja — Daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, yesterday told an Abuja High Court that the N10 million for which she was charged, constituted part of the N37million appropriated by the Federal Ministry of Health for Senate Committee on Health to undertake a trip to Ghana in the 2007 budget.
She, therefore, asked the court presided over by Justice Salisu Garba, to quash the charges preferred against her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the grounds, that it lacks merit.
Opposing the application brought by the former Minister of Health, Adenike Grange, Gabriel Aduku, Obasanjo-Bello and nine others which are seeking to quash the charges, the EFCC prayed the court to dismiss the applications and hold that there was a prima facie case against the accused/applicants.
Obasanjo-Bello who was mentioned in the charge as the 12th accused had, through her counsel, Bankole Joel Akomolafe, asked the court that contrary to paragraph 4 of the complainant's affidavit, the relief seeking to quash count 55 and count 56 of the charge against the 12th accused/applicant was not contained in the application of the 12th accused/applicant filed on the 11th April, 2008, wherein she challenged the jurisdiction of the Court.
She stressed that the application seeking to quash count 55 and count 56 of the charge filed by the 12th accused/applicant on the 5th day of May, 2008, was only struck out and never considered on its merit.
Besides, Obasanjo-Bello through her counsel argued that the Honourable Court in its ruling delivered on the 19th May, 2008, declined jurisdiction to entertain the 12th accused/applicant's application of 5th of May, 2008, and merely struck out the application.
Submitting further, the lawyer from Chief Afe Babalola's Chamber said the issue of the quashing or otherwise of the charge by the 12th accused/applicant has never been determined on the merit.
Others are: *That Chief Afe Babalola told me in a telephone conversation earlier this morning that contrary to paragraph 5 of the Complainant's affidavit, the 12th accused/applicant's application of 28th May, 2008, can neither constitute an issue estoppel nor an abuse of process of court and I verily believe.
*That the 12th accused/applicant informed me after the proceedings of this morning within the FCT High Court premises that she has never committed a crime against her father land and that she will never do so and I verily believe.
*That she further said that the N10 million released to the Senate Committee on Health for their retreat in Ghana between 16th and 20th March, 2008, by the Ministry of Health was actually provided for in the 2007 Appropriation Act of the budget of the Ministry of Health.
*That the 12th accused/applicant being aware that the money sent to the Senate Committee on Health by the Ministry of Health was budgeted for in the 2007 Appropriation Act proceeded to the retreat in Ghana to deliberate over the Health Act acted in good faith.
Meanwhile, EFCC through its counsel, James Binang, in a counter-affidavit argued that its investigations showed that the Federal Ministry of Health had a balance of N130 million in its overhead accounts domiciled in Oceanic Bank Plc as at the ending of 2007.
He stated that the leadership of the ministry under the leadership of the former ministers and the Permanent Secretary, Simon Ogandi, H.B. Oyeyipo and Hanafi Mohammed actually conspired to fraudulently withdraw money from the said Overhead Cost Account by initiating a welfare committee which had the 6th to the 11th accused persons as members.
Binang continued: "the task of the said welfare committee was to cook up contract documents from companies which will be fraudulently used as conduits to siphon monies from the said account.
"It is important to note that while this fraud was being perpetrated, there was a standing presidential directive to all ministries, parastatals and government agencies to return any part of their unspent financial allocation to the Federation Account. Our investigation revealed that the accused persons violated the tenor of that presidential directive," he added.
However, the court presided over by Justice Garba directed that all the parties should file a written address in respect of their applications which are seeking to quash the charges.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
