By Edwin Eriye
There was mild drama at the continuation of the trial of former Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang, on Friday when his counsel, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, disowned another defence counsel over the line of questioning.
Jang is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alongside Yusuf Pam, a cashier at the office of the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, for an alleged N6.2billion fraud.
S.A Oguntiyi, counsel for Pam, had while cross-examining the 11th prosecution witness, Musa Sunday, an operative of EFCC, queried the testimony of the witness, with regards to monies paid to Jang.
While examining Exhibit P25, the account statement of the office of the Secretary to the State Government, OSSG, and exhibit P28, the personal account statement of Jang, Oguntiyi, had asked Sunday, “If the sum of N500, 000 was withdrawn on March 30, 2015 form OSSG to project one account”
Replying, Sunday, however revealed more of the findings while investigating the alleged fraud.
He said: “Although there was no withdrawal from the OSSG account, a cash deposit of N500, 000 by the second defendant was seen on that particular day.
“In the course of investigations, during one of the interrogations with the EFCC detectives, the second defendant said the sum of N500, 000 was a thank you gift and could not be accounted for.
“In the statement, dated January 16, 2017 made by Pam, he had however denied any receipt of any financial benefits from the Plateau State Government except salaries as a civil servant which was less than N80, 000 monthly; so where did he get cash of N500, 000?
“Not only the N500, 000, the second defendant, during the interview disclosed that there were several other monetary gifts passed to him by Jang. Moreover, more monies were seen amounting to N71million in Pam’s personal account statement, Exhibit P28”.
