Bankole awarded jobs to contractors with no addresses – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday told an Abuja High Court that the former leadership of the National Assembly awarded contracts worth about N9 billion to contractors without known addresses.

The commission disclosed this at the resumed of the former Speaker of the House of Representative, Dimeji Bankole. According to a press statement by the spokesman of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, Mr Bankole is being tried on a 16 count contract scam charge.

“In his testimony before the court, Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, Mallam Ibrahim Ahmed, said while investigating, attempts to physical verify the companies that were awarded the contract, was unsuccessful”, Mr Uwujaren said.

“He further added that since physical verification was not possible, they resorted to writing letters inviting the managing directors of the companies for questioning,” he added.

“Owing to the fact that we could not trace the addresses of the companies, we decided to write the MD’s of the Companies. We wrote the letters and sent them through UPS courier service but the letters were returned three weeks later because UPS said they couldn’t trace the address”.

The Prosecution Counsel, Festus Keyamo sought to tender a document obtained from the former speaker by the EFCC in the court as an evidence but the defence counsel, O. Akanni SAN, objected on the grounds that the document have not been certified.

Mr Keyamo thereafter to withdrew the document and asked the court for time to get all the documents certified. The judge, Justice Donatus Okorowa adjourned the case to April 3rd, 2012, for continuation of trial.

It would be recalled that the former Speaker was arraigned on Wednesday, June 8th, 2011, on a 16 count of contract inflation and fraudulent embezzlement of public fund.