Ise-Oluwa Ige
28 November 2008
Abuja — Former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Saminu Turaki denied yesterday, before a Federal High Court in Abuja the allegation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that he used Jigawa State Government money totaling $118 million to finance oil bloc deals on behalf of INC Natural Resources.
He also denied ownership of the controversial corporate firm, INC Natural Resources traced to him. He though admitted that INC Natural Resources paid the said sum but that the money did not belong to him or to Jigawa State.
He tendered documentary evidence to back up his claim.
Specifically, Turaki exhibited correspondences between Guaranty Trust Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria whereof the former asked the latter for approval to disburse the sum of 98 million U.S Dollars on behalf of INC Natural Resources to the Department of Petroleum Resources for the said oil blocs.
The exhibits were attached to the counter-affidavit of an application by the former governor, asking the court to quash the charges on the contention that they were baseless and lacked credibility.
In the affidavit, Turaki had dissociated himself from the ownership of INC Natural Resources, lamenting why EFCC would accuse him of using state funds to acquire the said oil blocs for the company when the exhibits showed that the CBN approved the release of the said money (USD 98 million) by GTB on April 25, 2006.
The approval letter dated April 25, 2006 was signed by one B. Musa on behalf of Director, Trade and Exchange Department of CBN.
It reads in part, "We refer to your letter of April 25, 2006 on the above subject and write to convey management's final approval for you to purchase USD98 million from the Foreign Exchange Market."
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had filed a 32-count charge of using funds belonging to the Jigawa State Government to pay for oil blocs given to him by the Federal Government.
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