On the question as to whether the Plateau State Government complained about the Disbursement and
the Handling of the Proceeds of the Ecological Fund, he stated that he was not aware of any complaint,
which, in any event, would not have been channelled through him.
PW3, Mr. Bamanga Bello, in his Cross-Examination stated that in the course of the investigation, he
saw the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Crossed Cheque in the Sum of N1, 161, 162, 900 made payable to the
Plateau State Government. This Cheque was not paid into the Plateau State Government Account but
into a Transit Account, a Special Clearing Account of AllStates Trust Bank Plc., where the Defendant
through Written and Typed Instructions, dictated the Manner of Disbursements of the Funds into
various Accounts including Ebenezer Retnan Ventures Account. According to him, without the
existing relationship between Ebenezer Retnan Ventures and the Bank, the Bank would, not have
cleared this Crossed Cheque.
PW3 could not remember seeing the Account Opening Form for Dr. Nkumah with Union Homes
Savings and Loans, even though he met with him. All he could say was that the Money paid into his
Account at the Union Homes Savings and Loans was eventually recovered. He also stated that he did
not investigate the sum of N250 Million paid to Pinnacle.
PW3 vehemently disagreed with the proposition that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Cheque was only
cleared into the AllStates Trust Bank Plc. Transit Account in Abuja because of Ebenezer Retnan
Ventures. According to him, the Plateau State Government only had an Account with the Jos Branch of
the Bank.
DW1, Mr. Adonye Roberts, in his Examination-in-Chief, acknowledged the fact that the Cheque written
out in favour of Plateau State Government, was deposited and cleared into the Bank’s Suspense
Account and his Bank did not receive any Complaint from the Plateau State Government. He identified
the Signature of the Defendant on both the Handwritten and Typed Instructions on Pages 2 and 3 of
Exhibit P4.
Under Cross-Examination, DW1 stated that it was not wrong to clear the Cheque through a Sundry
Account. From his experience, Exhibit P6, the Central Bank of Nigeria Cheque payable to Plateau
State Government, was Public Funds, which ought to be paid into the said Government’s Account. He
knew that Government Funds must be used for Government Purposes and where Funds were to be
used for Ecological Purposes, those Funds must be used for that Purpose only.
According to DW1, the Defendant did not open Ebenezer Retnan Ventures Account in Jos, Plateau
State but in the Abuja Branch of the Bank, where the Defendant was maintaining and relating with the
Account. He identified Page 2 of Exhibit P4 as the Defendant’s Handwritten Instruction to the
Managing Director, through the Branch Manager Abuja Branch, which conveyed the Defendant’s
Instruction of the 19th of July 2001, to his Bank to Clear the Cheque and pay as directed.
When shown Exhibit 15C, the Ebenezer Retnan Ventures’ Statement of Account with the AllStates
Trust Bank Plc., he read the Narration of the 26th of July 2001, to be the Sum of, “One Hundred and
Sixty Million Naira (N160, 000, 000) Being Part Payment from the CBN Cheque Cleared.” According to
this Witness, the Handwritten Instruction was in line with Exhibit P4 and the Draft made in favour of
Ebenezer Retnan Ventures, tallied with the Statement of Account.
He positively stated that it was not right for the Defendant to pay Government Money into Private
Account.
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