Evidence of EFCC Proposals Against Ramalan Yero

The trial of former Kaduna State Governor Muktar Ramalan Yero before Judge Z.B. Abubakar at the Federal High Court hearing in Kaduna continued on Tuesday 23 February 2021 with the presentation of evidence by the first prosecution witness (PW1), Iona Abimaje.

Yero is being prosecuted by the Kaduna Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for his alleged involvement in the “distribution” of $ 700 million provided by former Oil Minister Dizani Alison-Madueke to influence the outcome of 2015. President elections.

Abimaje, who was Operations Manager for Ahmadu Bello’s Kaduna branch and as Regional Operations Manager for Ali Akilu’s next-generation branch in 2015, during his testimony at the last meeting (January 21, 2021) described how the money was received from the Central Bank. Bank of Nigeria was recovered from the defendants.

The witness testified that the above amount was paid in cash to the 2nd and 4th defendants, to whom they individually signed a “collection form” as proof of collection.

At today’s meeting, Abimaje, while being chaired by EFCC attorney Nasiru Salele, presented two cash receipts from the defendants.

The admissibility of the documents was strongly contested by the defense, which argued that the documents were not properly certified and that the document should have been submitted through a Commission official and not through a private bank witness.

In response, Salele argued that the documents had been duly certified by the bank, adding that the originals of these documents were still in the custody of the bank. He called on the court to take the documents to court.

Following the arguments and counterarguments of the lawyer, Judge Abubakar updated the decision on March 25, 2021 and extended the hearing.

Source: – Pm News