A businessman with Falala Construction and Interior Decoration Company, Abuja Aminu Rabiu has opened up how he received N1 billion to renovate houses of former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello situated in Koi state and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Rabiu a prosecution witness
made the confession at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday while
testifying in the trial of the former governor’s nephew, Ali Bello, and an alleged
accomplice, Dauda Sulaiman.
The witness added that he
renovated a house in Life Camp which he said belonged to the runaway former
Governor and that he received payments in cash and bank transfers, stating that
the least he received was N8 million from various people who paid him on behalf
of Bello at number 9, Benghazi Street, Abuja, and sometimes at Ali Bello’s
house in Life Camp, Abuja.
“No 9 Benghazi. I renovated the
house (with) finishing and furnishing. I was paid about three hundred and
something million naira. They paid me in cash, in instalments. Yes, I know the
immediate-past governor of Kogi State. His name is Alhaji Yahya Bello. I knew
him through his wife, Amina Yahya Bello, sometime in 2009,” the witness said.
Heraldviews further reports
that Rabiu in the same vein confirmed knowing Ali Bello and Dauda Sulaiman, the
two defendants in the case, adding that he has a Zenith Bank account through
which he receives money through his company’s name, Falala Construction.
“At Jabi, I did renovations,
finishing and polishing. I was paid around N200 million in cash in instalments.
Life Camp. Yes, I did the furnishing and polishing. I can’t remember but it is
around N200 million in cash’, he told the court
The witness recalled that his
company was engaged to demolish and rebuild the Presidential Lodge in the Kogi
State Government House confirming that he received more than N600 million for
the job.
‘I also worked in Kogi State,
Okene (Kogi State). I did the renovation. I remodelled the house and did the
finishing. It was around N500 million. They paid me in cash. They were made in
Abuja’, the business man added
Heraldviews reports that Bello
who is on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) is facing separate charges of diverting over N80 billion from the
state’s treasury, while two other defendants were charged with money laundering
involving fraudulent diversion of N10 billion from Kogi State Government’s
coffers during Bello’s tenure as Governor.
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