Pension thieves cashed 400 cheques in one day – Witness

A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of seven
persons accused of complicity in the over N20bn
police pension fraud, Mustapha Gadanya, has
narrated to Justice Hussein Baba of the Federal
Capital Territory High Court how 400 cheques were
cashed in a day by the accused persons.
Led in evidence by Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, Gadanya
told the court on Tuesday in Abuja that he obtained
and analyzed the certified true copy of instruments
used in making withdrawals in the name of
Veronica Onyegbula and the Directors of Police
Pension office, Esai Dangaba, Atiku Abubakar and
Inuwa Wada.
A statement by the head, Public Relations unit,
EFCC, Wilson Uwajaren, explained that Gadanya told
the court that the directors carried out the cheque
transactions without any letter of exemption from
compliance with the e-payment circular from the
office of the Accountant General.
“Over 400 cheques were withdrawn and we got this
information from the bank statement furnished us
by First Bank Plc.
“We discovered that the three directors are all
signatories to the fraudulent cheques. We also
discovered that Mrs. Uzoma Attang, John Yusuf,
Gabriel Ikpe, Mike Okoro and one Mrs Amu
(currently at large), are among those who signed
the cheques,” Gadanya said.
Justice Baba who was apparently shocked by the
revelation, sought to know from the witness what
currency was involved to which the witness
responded, “Naira my Lord”.
Gadanya then went on to state that between
January 31, 2011 and May 6, 2011, over N1bn was
withdrawn and that the sum of N650m was
withdrawn on January 31, 2011.