Former Governor of Plateau State and serving
senator, Joshua Dariye, wept today, after a High
Court in Abuja, sentenced him to 14 years’
imprisonment on charges of criminal breach of
trust and misappropriation of over N1.16bn
belonging to the state.
“Be merciful. You are a Christian, your name is
Jacob,” Mr Dariye had told the judge before his
sentencing. However, Justice Adebukola Banjoko
convicted and sentenced him on 15 out the 23
counts preferred against him.
-Punchng
A High Court of Federal Capital Territory High Court
sitting at Gudu, on Tuesday, convicted and
sentenced the former Governor of Plateau State,
Joshua Dariye to 14 years imprisonment for
diverting public funds to the tune of N1.126billion.
Senator Joshua Dariye Dariye who was governor of
Plateau State from 1999 to 2007 and the current
Senator representing Plateau Central, was found
guilty on 15 out of the 23-count criminal charge
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, preferred against him.
The court said it was satisfied that the defendant,
being a public officer that had full dominion and
control of ecological funds the Federal Government
released to Plateau State in 2001, converted and
diverted same for his personal use. It held that the
ex-governor criminally misappropriated funds and
acted in violent breach of public trust and his oath
of office. Nevertheless, the court discharged and
acquitted the ex-governor on 8-counts which it said
was not sustained with sufficient evidence. Dariye
had before his sentence was announced by trial
Justice Adebukola Banjoko, pleaded the court to
temper justice with mercy, describing himself as a
victim of circumstance. In a plea of allocutus he
made through his lawyer, Mr. Paul Erokoro, SAN,
Dariye said he was deceived by his bank. Erokoro
insisted that his client who he said served his state
diligently, became tainted owing to pervasive
corruption in the public service. “This man has
suffered. We urge my lord to temper justice with
mercy”, Erokoro pleaded, adding that case of his
client was different from that of ex-governor of
Taraba State, Rev. Jolly Nyame who was jailed
14years for stealing public funds. However, EFCC’s
lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, urged the court to
impose the maximum sanction, accusing Dariye of
failing to show any remorse for the crime he
committed. “My lord should consider the conduct
of the defendant who has stalled his trial since
June 2007. Is he remorseful about what he has
done? He is not! He has not shown any remorse.
He still believes that he has not done anything
wrong.
“The prisons are congested with the poor and
those that cannot afford their daily meal, but the
big men are not there!”. Jacob’s urged the court to
give a sentence capable of serving as a deterrent
to other public office holders. Irked by the
submission, Dariye challenged EFCC’s lawyer,
accusing him of deliberately inciting the court to
take severe decision against him. “You are not
God! Your name is Jacob, as a Christian you
should have mercy! You cannot predict my state of
mind. Let’s not spoil tomorrow because of today.
Can you raise your hand to swear there is a saint
in Nigeria?”, Dariye bellowed from the dock. In her
verdict, Justice Banjoko said she was not
persuaded by Dariye’s claim of being a victim.
Decrying what she termed as “brazen act of
systematic looting” while the defendant held sway
as the defendant, the Judge noted that Dariye was
at a point, richer than his state. While the court
sentenced the defendant to 2years imprisonment
on each of the counts bordering on
misappropriation, he was handed 14 years for the
counts involving criminal breach of trust. The court
held that the sentence would run concurrently, even
as it directed EFCC to return all the funds it
recovered in the course of the investigation into the
coffers of Taraba State. The court had earlier in the
judgment that lasted over six hours, noted that
following a Mutual Legal Assistance Request from
the Metropolitan Police in London, it was
uncovered that Dariye sequentially laundered funds
from Nigeria into National West Ministers Bank in
the United Kingdom, using an account he opened
in the name of a fictitious firm. It observed that a
former detective with the Met Police, Mr. Peter
Clarke who testified as the ninth prosecution
witness, PW-9, during the trial, disclosed that
Dariye wired funds from an account the fictitious
firm- Ebenezer Rednar Ventures- operated with All
States Trust Bank in Nigeria, into nine separate
accounts he opened at Barclays Bank in London.
Clarke who led a team of Met police officers that
arrested Dariye on September 28, 2004, had
informed the court that a warrant of arrest that was
issued against the ex-governor after he jumped bail
in London and ran back to Nigeria to escape being
prosecuted on money laundering charges, was still
valid. Justice Banjoko held that evidence before
the court confirmed huge outflow of funds from the
Plateau State treasury, into accounts Dariye
operated with All States Bank and Lion Bank (now
Diamond Bank), using the name of the fictitious
firm.
Describing circumstances that surrounded the
opening of the accounts as suspicious, as no
picture was used in the opening mandate, the
court stressed that signature of the ex-governor
appeared in four places on the account opening
documents. It noted that admittance by All States
Bank that it granted the defendant waiver to
operate the account without the required mandate
picture, led to prosecution and conviction of some
of its key officials. Justice Banjoko held that
forensic analysis confirmed that signatures on the
account operated in the name of Ebenezer Rednar
Ventures belonged to Dariye. She said the account
was opened on December 19, 1999, without proper
documentation and with false and untraceable
address, observing that Dariye had in his statement
before the London Police and the EFCC, admitted
that Ebenezer is the name of one of his children.
“As at the time the account was opened on
December 19, 1999, the defendant was still the
governor of Plateau State. Wrong account opening
form were used, details were falsified, all in a bid
to conceal the identify of the true owner of the
account”, the court held. It noted that one Daniel
Haruna who was the second signatory to the said
account which was opened as if it belonged to an
individual but operated as a corporate account,
could not be located. The court maintained that
Dariye was “the face behind the mask” that
operated the account, stressing that the defendant,
being as a public servant, was not permitted by
law to operate a foreign account. “The court is
satisfied that Ebenezer Rednar Ventures and Chief
Dariye are one and the same person. The
defendant is adequately capable of answering to
any charge against the firm”. Though Dariye had in
two applications dated May 7 and June 7, 2001,
used Plateau State to apply for a total of N3billion
from the ecological fund, only about N1bn was
approved for him. The ex-governor was said to
have personally collected the cheque from the
Central Bank of Nigeria, on July 12, 2001. EFCC,
through its witnesses, told the court that the
N1.126bn ecological fund meant for reclamation
and rechannelization, was diverted into different
private accounts by the defendant. While reviewing
the proof of evidence that was laid before the
court, Justice Banjoko observed that the sum of
N280m from the fund was said to have been
shared to three beneficiaries, among whom
included former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who
allegedly received N100m through his firm, Marine
Float. A former Deputy Senate President, Senator
Ibrahim Mantu was said to have also received
N10m, even as EFCC told the court that whereas
the money that was given to the ex-VP was for the
North East wing of the Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, the defendant equally donated N100m each
to the South West and South East wings of the
party on July 20, 2001, as well as N66m to the
Plateau State chapter of the party to be shared to
all the 274 wards in the state. The anti-graft
agency told the court that the N100m which was
sent to PDP South West through a then Minister of
Special Duties, Dr. Yomi Edu, was subsequently
returned to Plateau State by ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo. While EFCC alleged that the defendant
used N250m to purchase a property in London in
September 2001 through the Chairman of Pinnacle
Communications, Dariye however claimed that the
fund was used to refurbish TV and Radio stations
in the state. Besides, Dariye was said to have
bribed one Dr. Nkuma who was a Permanent
Secretary at the Ecological fund office with N80m
to facilitate the release of the fund to him. Justice
Banjoko held that Dariye failed to adduce any
reasonable explanation for the funds he released to
the ex-VP and the PDP.
The court said it was satisfied that Dariye was
giulty of dishonest missaprropriation and criminal
breach of trust. It noted that out of the total
ecological fund, only N550m was paid into the
coffers of Plateau State following a hand written
instruction the defendant gave to All States Trust
Bank which he used to clear the cheque from CBN.
Though the court held that EFCC could not
establish that Dariye used N250m to acquire a flat
in London, it however found the defendant guilty of
illegally using funds meant for ecological project
for other purpose. The Met Police had through its
ex-investigator, Clarke, told the trial court that
Dariye was arrested with his personal assistant,
Christabel Bentu, in a hotel in London. Clarke said
Dariye’s arrest and subsequent detention was a
fallout of an investigation into a credit card fraud
involving one Christopher McQuiney who he said
was caught with 11, 500.00 pounds concealed in a
brief case. The former Met investigator told the
court that McQuiney, who was arrested and taken
to a police station in North East London,
confessed that the money belonged to his boss,
Dariye. Dariye’s request for Clarke to be recalled to
the witness box during his defence was declined
by the court. EFCC closed its case against the
defendant after it called 10 witnesses that testified
before the court, even as the defendant called a
total of 16 witnesses to defend the charge against
him. Dariye had earlier lost his bid to disqualify
Justice Banjoko from presiding over his trial. He
had in a petition to the Chief Judge of the FCT,
Justice Ishaq Bello, alleged that the trial judge had
on several occasions, openly exhibited “manifest
and undisguised bias’’ against him. Aside asking
Justice Banjoko to disqualify herself from further
presiding over the trial, the defendant prayed the
CJ to transfer the case-file to another court, a
request that was refused. Dariye had also failed to
persuade both the Court of Appeal and the
Supreme Court to quash the charge against him.
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