Alleged N109bn Fraud: Court to rule on admissibility of former accountant general Idris’ statements

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Tuesday, reserved ruling to decide on whether or not to accept some extrajudicial statements obtained from former Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, during investigations into the N109 billion corruption charges brought against him.

Judge Yusuf Halilu adjourned for ruling after the prosecution and the defence offered their closing arguments in the trial-within-trial which the court ordered nearly four years ago to determine the voluntariness of the statements.

Mr Idris, through his lawyer, Chris Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), urged the trial court in Abuja not to accept the statements tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alleging that they were obtained through inducement.

Mr Uche urged the trial judge to “reject the documents (statements) as well as video recordings” accompanying them.

But, EFCC’s prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacob, also a SAN, maintained that the statements were voluntary and taken in the presence of persons who testified in the trial-within-trial initiated at the instance of Mr Idris’ lawyer.

The prosecutor recalled two of the witnesses testifying during the trial-within-trial that the statements were “taken in my presence,” and asked the judge to admit them in evidence.

A total of 14 statements in question, taken on 13 different dates, have been the subject of the trial-within-trial which has run for close to four years, leading to a pause of the main trial itself.

The judge ordered the trial-within-trial in November 2022, and has since paused the main trial till when a decision is reached on the admissibility of the contested statements.

The substantive trial started in 2022, when the EFCC arraigned Mr Idris alongside Geoffrey Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited on 14 counts of stealing and fraudulent diversion of N109.5 billion in public funds.

Mr Idris served as Nigeria’s accountant general from June 2015 until his removal from office in May 2022 following an EFCC investigation into the alleged diversion of public funds.

He and his co-defendants denied all charges during their arraignment.

The EFCC was presenting its evidence to support its case when court ordered the trial-within-trial on 22 November 2022 following claims by Mr Idris’ defence team that the statements made by Mr Idris to the EFCC were obtained through deception and inducement.

The defence team alleged that the statements were dictated and not voluntary. He also said went back on an assurance not to charge. EFCC rejected the claims.

Both sides called witnesses to prove their stances on the statements.

Closing arguments

Presenting his closing arguments on Tuesday, prosecution lawyer Mr Jacobs, said the presence of Mr Idris’ particulars, such as “his name and address in the statements, shows that the statements were not dictated.

Mr Jacobs also said there was nothing in his statement indicating that the EFCC ever promised not to prosecute him.

He argued that Mr Idris’ lawyers took undue advantage of Section 17 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and urged the judge to “accept the statements.”

After listening to their arguments, the judge reserved his ruling and promised to communicate the date to deliver it to the parties.

Background of case

On 10 June 2022, EFCC arrested Mr Idris in Kano, Kano State, where he hails from, and flew him to Abuja for investigations. He was subsequently charged alongside co-defendants with theft.

EFCC later arraigned Mr Idris alongside his co-defendants on 14 charges, including diversion of N109.5 billion. They all pleaded not guilty.

On 22 November 2022, the judge ordered a trial-within-trial after Mr Idris, through his lawyer, challenged the admissibility of the statements he made to EFCC investigators.

Trial-within-trial

During the trial-within-trial, the prosecution called EFCC investigators who denied entering into any non-prosecution agreement with Mr Idri or inducing to make statements.

Specifically, on 26 June 2024, Abdulhamid Isa Muri, an EFCC official from the commission’s Kano office, testified as the prosecution’s third witness regarding the statement Mr Idris gave in June 2022.

The defence later opened its case and called witnesses to support its challenge to the statements, including officials connected to the office of the accountant general of the federation.

In April, a retired Director of Legal Services in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Haruna Alabi, testified as a witness for Mr Idris. He said he signed a statement written on 17 May 2022 by Mr Idris in EFCC custody.

“As our former boss, we wanted to show empathy,” Mr Alabi told the court during cross-examination by EFCC’s lawyer.

Details of charges

The EFCC accused Mr Idris of, among other offences, diverting up to N109 billion in public funds while he served as the nation’s accountant general.

The charges also accused him of accepting N15 billion gratification from Olusegun Akindele as a motive for accelerating the payment of 13 per cent derivation to the nine (9) oil-producing states in the federation, through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

EFCC also alleged that N84.39 million from the federal government’s account was converted by the first and second defendants between February and November 2021.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the allegations against them.

Recoveries

In December 2022, EFCC obtained a court order for an interim forfeiture of assets, including $899,900, N304,490,160.95, and 15 properties in Kano and Abuja linked to the alleged crimes.

EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, announced at an event in Abuja in December 2022 that the commission had recovered over N30 billion.

It was not clear if the N30 billion the EFCC chair said had been recovered from Mr Idris covered multi-billion naira assets traced to and recovered from him in the wake of his arrest.

PREMIUM TIMES obtained images of some of the multi-billion naira assets in June.

The assets, mostly in Kano, his home state in Nigeria’s northwestern region, are said to be worth billions of naira, significantly more than his monthly salary as a public officer.

Part of the assets is the Gezawa Commodity Market in Kano State.

One of the assets – Ultra-Modern Mall, located in Kano State – is said to be worth more than N700 million.

Pictures obtained showed the mall was sited on a large expanse of land.

However, while the major exterior works have been completed, work is still ongoing inside, with facilities like elevators and escalators being installed.

In 2021, Mr Idris, in his capacity as the accountant general, launched Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited, which he had openly admitted to be owned by him.