Alleged N1.2bn fraud: Read the major drama surrounding Dariye’s 9-year-old trial
26th Jan. 2016
Joshua Dariye was slammed with 23-counts charge of money laundering and alleged diversion of about N1.126 billion Plateau state government’s ecological funds.
Joshua Dariye said he was supposed to be tried before a Plateau state high court and not the FCT high court.
The trial judge, Justice Adebukola Banjoko, heard and dismissed Dariye’s application on December 13, 2007, for lacking in merit.
Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies comprising the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) have suddenly woken up from their long nap in synchronization with the present administration’s determination to eradicate corruption as well as ensure that all stolen funds are recovered and returned to government coffers.
Some Nigerians woke up with smiles on their faces this morning upon hearing the news of the reawakening of a case involving the former governor of Plateau state, Joshua Dariye, which had been pending for almost nine years now.
The EFCC in 2007 filed a 23-counts charge of money laundering and alleged diversion of about N1.126 billion Plateau state government’s ecological funds before a Federal Capital Territory high court in Abuja, against Dariye.
Dariye while taking his plea, pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the trial judge, Justice Adebukola Banjoko, fixed November 13, 2007 for the commencement of trial, but before the date, Dariye filed an application, challenging the competence of the charges and the jurisdiction of the court.
He argued that he was supposed to be tried before his state’s high court and not the FCT high court. The trial judge heard and dismissed his application on December 13, 2007, on the ground that it lacks merit.
Dariye appealed the court’s ruling at an Abuja division of the court of appeal, but the decision of Justice Banjoko was affirmed by the appeal court. Dariye went ahead to the supreme court to appeal, but the apex court on February 27, 2015 dismissed his appeal and ordered him to submit himself for trial.
The former governor was later elected Senator, representing Plateau central on the platform of the Labour Party in April 2011. His stalled trial resumed on January 25, 2016, following the supreme court’s judgment that was delivered on February 27, 2015.
The EFCC had at the commencement of Dariye’s trial called on its first prosecution witness, Musa Sunday, a detective with the anti-graft agency who participated in the investigation of Dariye for the alleged fraud. Testifying before Justice Banjoko, Sunday gave a breakdown of his team’s report on the investigation detailing how the ecological funds collected by Dariye was allegedly diverted.
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