Three days after his arrest and interrogation,
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday filed a 16-count
charge of contract inflation amounting to N894m against the former
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole.
In the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja by its counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo, the commission said Bankole and other principal officers of the House ‘now at large’ hiked the cost of vehicles, television sets and office equipment purchased by the House in 2008.
It said the items comprised three Mercedes Benz S-600, two Range Rover SUVs, 400 television sets, 100 units of photocopying machines, computer units, scanners and other accessories.
The commission, in the charge sheet with reference No.FHC/ABJ/CR/47/11, said the action contravened some sections of the Public Procurement Act No. 14 of 2007.
If found guilty, Bankole, who, will be arraigned before Justice Donatus Okorowu on Wednesday (today), will spend five years in prison.
The EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Babafemi, who confirmed that the former Speaker would be arraigned today, said the commission was questioning Bankole on three separate ‘deals.’
He said the commission decided to file the 16-count charge against him because it had concluded investigations on one of them — the N894m scam.
“We have concluded questioning on one of the deals; he will be facing a 16-count charge on Wednesday. When investigations are concluded on the other two and he is found culpable, we will arraign him on fresh charges,” Babafemi added.
The other two deals for which Bankole is being quizzed are the N10bn loan which the former House used to increase the quarterly allocations of its non-principal officers from N28m to N42m and the alleged mismanagement of its N9bn budget for 2008/2009.
Part of the charge against him reads, “That Bankole and others now at large, on or about May 28, approved contracts in the House of Representatives with intent to defraud; inflated the cost of 400 units of 40-inch Samsung (LNS.3410) television sets by approving the items at the rate of N525, 000.00 per unit, instead of the prevailing market price of N295, 000.00 and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58 (4) (a) of the Public Procurement Act No. 14 of 2007 and punishable under Section 58 (5) of the same Act;.
“That Bankole and others (now at large), on or about May 28, 2008 rigged the bid for the purchase of 100 units of Sharp Digital Copier 5316 by refusing to follow all the procedures prescribed for public procurements in Sections 17 to 56 of the Public Procurement Act N0.14 of 2007, leading to a loss of value to the national treasury and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58 (4) (e) of the said Act;
“That Bankole and others (now at large), on or about May 28, 2008 rigged the bid for the purchase of three units of Mercedes Benz S-600 cars by refusing to follow all the procedures prescribed for public procurements in Sections 17 to 56 of the Public Procurement Act No.14 of 2007.”
But the embattled ex-Speaker has raised the alarm that the anti-graft agency has perfected plans to clamp down on his family members.
The former speaker, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Bakare, accused the commission of subjecting him to psychological torture by refusing him access to his lawyers and family members “since he was abducted on Sunday night.”
The statement titled, “EFCC subjects Bankole to psychological torture…whereabouts unknown,” wondered why the EFCC filed charges relating to contract inflation against him.
“Contrary to the whole noise about N10bn loan and N2.3bn Peugeot 407 contract scam, the EFCC only filed charges on a contract for the supply of office equipment,” the statement added.
According to the statement, information revealed that pressure was mounted on Bankole throughout Sunday night to coerce him to write a statement implicating some members of the House.
He said, “As we earlier alerted, the manner the EFCC has gone about the invitation of the former Speaker and the subsequent media trial and prosecution, with the EFCC feeding the unsuspecting public with such fiction of the former speaker resisting arrest, under house arrest and attempting to flee the country even when he was still number four citizen of Nigeria, shows that the agency is engaged in a political witch-hunt and vendetta against the former Speaker.
“So far, the anti-graft agency, even without concluding investigation, has portrayed Bankole as guilty from its utterances and selective persecution and is refusing to charge him to court to decide on the case as stipulated by the law within a time limit.
“We understand that not making headway with Bankole, the EFCC has perfected plans to start harassing members of his family, starting with his immediate family.
“As reported in the media, the EFCC went to search his house where his wife and two children were domiciled and harassed the wife, a trend that is now common with the EFCC.
“We believe that the agency should have isolated the wife from such treatment of a man who is still presumed innocent.
“We learnt that the commission has not forgiven comments credited to Bankole by Wikileaks to the effect that it is not “worth a penny’ even after Bankole has publicly denied making such a statement about the organisation months ago.”
The former Speaker was arrested in his Asokoro, Abuja residence by about 10 operatives of the commission in a room where he had locked up himself after the withdrawal of his police orderlies.
He was said to have resisted arrest by the operatives last Friday, promising to turn himself in by 2pm on Monday after allegedly making frantic telephone calls to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim.
The operatives led by the EFCC’s Director of Operations, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, were said to have tried for several hours to gain entry into the room before they succeeded.
By Olamileakan Lartey, Friday Olokor, and Sesan Olufowobi Courtesyn Of: Punch
In the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja by its counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo, the commission said Bankole and other principal officers of the House ‘now at large’ hiked the cost of vehicles, television sets and office equipment purchased by the House in 2008.
It said the items comprised three Mercedes Benz S-600, two Range Rover SUVs, 400 television sets, 100 units of photocopying machines, computer units, scanners and other accessories.
The commission, in the charge sheet with reference No.FHC/ABJ/CR/47/11, said the action contravened some sections of the Public Procurement Act No. 14 of 2007.
If found guilty, Bankole, who, will be arraigned before Justice Donatus Okorowu on Wednesday (today), will spend five years in prison.
The EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Babafemi, who confirmed that the former Speaker would be arraigned today, said the commission was questioning Bankole on three separate ‘deals.’
He said the commission decided to file the 16-count charge against him because it had concluded investigations on one of them — the N894m scam.
“We have concluded questioning on one of the deals; he will be facing a 16-count charge on Wednesday. When investigations are concluded on the other two and he is found culpable, we will arraign him on fresh charges,” Babafemi added.
The other two deals for which Bankole is being quizzed are the N10bn loan which the former House used to increase the quarterly allocations of its non-principal officers from N28m to N42m and the alleged mismanagement of its N9bn budget for 2008/2009.
Part of the charge against him reads, “That Bankole and others now at large, on or about May 28, approved contracts in the House of Representatives with intent to defraud; inflated the cost of 400 units of 40-inch Samsung (LNS.3410) television sets by approving the items at the rate of N525, 000.00 per unit, instead of the prevailing market price of N295, 000.00 and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58 (4) (a) of the Public Procurement Act No. 14 of 2007 and punishable under Section 58 (5) of the same Act;.
“That Bankole and others (now at large), on or about May 28, 2008 rigged the bid for the purchase of 100 units of Sharp Digital Copier 5316 by refusing to follow all the procedures prescribed for public procurements in Sections 17 to 56 of the Public Procurement Act N0.14 of 2007, leading to a loss of value to the national treasury and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58 (4) (e) of the said Act;
“That Bankole and others (now at large), on or about May 28, 2008 rigged the bid for the purchase of three units of Mercedes Benz S-600 cars by refusing to follow all the procedures prescribed for public procurements in Sections 17 to 56 of the Public Procurement Act No.14 of 2007.”
But the embattled ex-Speaker has raised the alarm that the anti-graft agency has perfected plans to clamp down on his family members.
The former speaker, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Bakare, accused the commission of subjecting him to psychological torture by refusing him access to his lawyers and family members “since he was abducted on Sunday night.”
The statement titled, “EFCC subjects Bankole to psychological torture…whereabouts unknown,” wondered why the EFCC filed charges relating to contract inflation against him.
“Contrary to the whole noise about N10bn loan and N2.3bn Peugeot 407 contract scam, the EFCC only filed charges on a contract for the supply of office equipment,” the statement added.
According to the statement, information revealed that pressure was mounted on Bankole throughout Sunday night to coerce him to write a statement implicating some members of the House.
He said, “As we earlier alerted, the manner the EFCC has gone about the invitation of the former Speaker and the subsequent media trial and prosecution, with the EFCC feeding the unsuspecting public with such fiction of the former speaker resisting arrest, under house arrest and attempting to flee the country even when he was still number four citizen of Nigeria, shows that the agency is engaged in a political witch-hunt and vendetta against the former Speaker.
“So far, the anti-graft agency, even without concluding investigation, has portrayed Bankole as guilty from its utterances and selective persecution and is refusing to charge him to court to decide on the case as stipulated by the law within a time limit.
“We understand that not making headway with Bankole, the EFCC has perfected plans to start harassing members of his family, starting with his immediate family.
“As reported in the media, the EFCC went to search his house where his wife and two children were domiciled and harassed the wife, a trend that is now common with the EFCC.
“We believe that the agency should have isolated the wife from such treatment of a man who is still presumed innocent.
“We learnt that the commission has not forgiven comments credited to Bankole by Wikileaks to the effect that it is not “worth a penny’ even after Bankole has publicly denied making such a statement about the organisation months ago.”
The former Speaker was arrested in his Asokoro, Abuja residence by about 10 operatives of the commission in a room where he had locked up himself after the withdrawal of his police orderlies.
He was said to have resisted arrest by the operatives last Friday, promising to turn himself in by 2pm on Monday after allegedly making frantic telephone calls to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim.
The operatives led by the EFCC’s Director of Operations, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, were said to have tried for several hours to gain entry into the room before they succeeded.
By Olamileakan Lartey, Friday Olokor, and Sesan Olufowobi Courtesyn Of: Punch
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