Now, it is important to state that this piece of evidence as rendered by Mrs.
Asabe Maiangwa cannot possibly be Hearsay. Mrs. Asabe Maiangwa is not
asserting the truth of the fact that the Defendant directed Alhaji Abubakar
Tutare to pay the Sum of One Hundred and Eighty Million Naira (N180, 000,
000) to Salman Global Ventures. She was only stating that she confronted
Alhaji Abubakar Tutare and only went on to state the outcome of that
confrontation.What Alhaji Abubakar Tutare divulged to her, was what she
heard him say in reply.
The veracity or truth of whatever Alhaji Abubakar Tutare told her could only
be tested through positive evidence, as she was not there when the
Defendant gave that instruction to pay Salman Global Ventures Nigeria
Limited the sum of One Hundred, and Eighty Million Naira (N180, 000, 000).
Therefore, the fact of what she heard is admissible not for the purpose of
establishing the truth but the fact of what was heard. Reference is made to
the case of DPP VS SUBRAMANIAM (1956) 1 WLR PAGE 965 AT PAGE
969; JIMOH AMOO & ORS VS THE QUEEN (1959) 4 FSC PAGE 113 AT
PAGE 115; UTTEH VS STATE (1992) LPELR-6239 (SC).
From the evidence above, it is apparent that there was a deviation from the
Mode of Purchase from Direct Labour to the Status of a Contract and the
cause of the diversion started with the Directive of the Defendant to pay a
Certain Sum of the whole to a Company. Alhaji Abubakar Tutare, who
authored the Memo in Exhibit CC, followed this deviation path. After the
Approved Sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N250, 000, 000),
was released into the Account of the Ministry of Finance from the
Accountant General, he bypassed the Custodian of the Funds, i.e., the
Permanent Secretary by ordering the Assistant Chief Accountant of the
Ministry of Finance, to pay the Entire Sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Million
Naira (N250, 000, 000) to Salman Global Ventures Nigeria Limited. It is in
evidence that AlhajiTutare had testified this Cheque could not be split.
The Court notes that the Prosecutiontendered towards the tail end of the
Defendant’s Cross-Examination, Exhibit VV1, a Secret Letter dated the
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