How former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh used N260m to acquire property for his son - Witness

A prosecution witness in the trial of former Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh yesterday told the Federal High Court, Abuja, how Badeh acquired property for his son,Alex Badeh Jnr.

The witness, Kabiru Salau, a contractor, spoke yesterday while testifying at the court in the trial of Badeh and a company, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, for allegedly diverting about N1.4 billion belonging to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) between January and December, 2013.


The offence contravenes Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.

The fifth prosecution witness said retired Air Commodore Salisu Abdullahi Yushau (ex-NAF Account director, who testified as the first prosecution witness) told him to look for a house for Badeh’s son.

“After three days, I called Yushau and told him of a house at No. 19 Kumasi Crescent, Wuse II, and that the price of the house is about N300 million.

“Yushau at that time was in Abuja and so when he heard of the amount, he said it’s on the high side and so I said I will call Alhaji Abba, who is an agent to tell him and I called Yushau to tell him that the last price for the house is N260 million.

“Yushau told me OK and told me that we should go and inspect the house and meet him at his house at Wuse II behind Sigma apartment and we drove down to the house.After getting to the house we started inspecting the house, so we left after I dropped Yushau.

“Yushau, after three weeks called me and gave me half of the money in dollars. So after I collected the money I took it to Alhaji Abba, after one month,Yushau called me to tell me that he wanted to travel abroad for medical check-up in Dubai and gave me the remaining balance and I carried the money to Alhaji Abba.

“Alhaji Abba now asked me what name they are to use for agreement. I told him that I don’t know and that I will call Yushau. I called him to ask him what name to use and he told me that he doesn’t have company and I told him that let us do the agreement in my company’s name.(Platinum Universal Project and Company).”

The witness further told the court that it was Abba, who wrote the agreement, deeds of assignment and power of attorney.

“We finished the agreement and he signed and handed over the original documents to me.

“Yushau sent Alex Jnr’s number to me and I called him and handed over the documents to him. After two months, Yushau came back from Dubai.”

When he was asked by prosecution counsel Mr Adebisi Adeniyi why he handed over the documents to Badeh Jnr, the witness said it was Yushau who instructed him to do so.

According to the witness, he said: “I met him at home after his trip and I told him the owner of the house have packed out from the house and he said OK and told Yushau that he wanted to do renovation of the house.

“Yushau now told me to put design and quotations and I carried it all to Yushau.We agreed N60 million and gave me $100,000 cash. After some months, he added another $200,000.

“After conclusion of the job, Alex Jnr now gave me a company’s number which I called and they came over to Abuja, so I showed them the house and gave me the quotations of about N92 million and I called Alex Jnr and told him the quotation, and he told me to take the quotation to Yushau.

“Yushau called me later in the evening, asking me which account to be used so that they will send the money. I sent my account number to Yushau.

“The next day I received alert and I called Yushau and told him it came from Lab maintenance and he said OK that’s the money for the function.

“I called the company and transferred N80 million to him, so the remaining balance was used to buy air condition, tiles, electric and toilet fittings and after we finished the works I handed over the house to Alex Jnr.

“After some months, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission came and Alex Jnr called me on a Friday and told me that he is renting the house, he told me EFCC wants to see the original documents and the landlord. He gave me the original document on a Saturday.

“I went to the EFCC on a Monday, by the time I reached there, they asked me if this house belonged to me and I told them no”

Again when he was asked to tell the court why he drew the agreement with his company’s name, he said he was the one who brought the tenant and so the money was paid into his account.

The matter was adjourned to July 4 for further cross examination of the witness.

from Nigeria News. Your Nigerian Online News Source: Nigerianeye.com http://ift.tt/294jgcX
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