The first witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Ibrahim Mahe, in the ongoing trial of Azibaola Robert, a cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has revealed how he transferred $40million to ‘One Plus Holdings Nigeria Limited’, a company owned by Robert. Azibaola and his wife, Stella, are standing trial before Justice Nnamdi O. Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja for seven counts bordering on money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption. Mahe, a retired permanent secretary, special services in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, while being led in evidence by counsel for the EFCC, Sylvanus Tahir, told the court that, “On August 20, 2014, the National Security Adviser endorsed a memo to me which originated from the Office of the Director of Finance and Administration of the ONSA detailing the bank details of one company called ‘One Plus’ and the purpose for which the company was to be paid a sum of $40m.
“The NSA instructed me to prepare payment and I prepared the payment mandate for the $40m in favour of ‘One Plus’ for the signature of the NSA. I sent it to the NSA, he signed and sent it back to me and subsequent action was for me to counter-sign the mandate and then send it to the Central Bank of Nigeria for payment.”On the coordination of the annual budget of the members of the intelligence community, Mahe said, “After formulating the budget, the Accountant General releases the funds of the intelligence community through an account that is domiciled in the Special Security Office from where it is distributed to the various end users.When funds get into the account, the NSA is informed of the arrival of the funds and proposal on the distribution to the various agencies is made to him. When he approves, the monies are sent to the end users.” The case has been adjourned till July 4 and 5, 2016.
