Alleged $6bn Mambilla fraud: Witness gives account of FEC extract certification process
A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, on Wednesday told the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja how Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting extracts connected to the alleged $6 billion Mambilla Power Project were certified and transmitted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC is prosecuting Agunloye on an amended seven-count charge bordering on alleged official corruption and the fraudulent award of the Mambilla Power Project contract to Sunrise Power Transmission Company Limited.
The Fifth Prosecution Witness (PW5), Iliya John Iyakwari, an assistant director in the Federal Ministry of Justice and currently serving as assistant legal adviser in the Federal Ministry of Power, was cross-examined by defence counsel, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the FCT High Court, Apo, Abuja.
Iyakwari explained the sequence of events surrounding the certification of the FEC extract, stating that the EFCC’s initial request was not properly handled at the first instance.
“The request for the certified extract of the FEC meeting of May 21, 2003 was received from the EFCC in July 2023,” he said. “When the documents were first forwarded, they were not certified, and the Commission later returned them.”
He added that the issue was only discovered after the EFCC reviewed the documents.
“It was after EFCC received the documents in July 2023 that they realized they were not certified. In January 2024, an EFCC staff, Babangida, brought them back and reminded my director that certification had not been done,” he told the court.
Iyakwari further told the court that he was subsequently directed to complete the certification process.
“My director gave me the document to certify. That is why my lord will see that the certification date is 26 January 2024, which is different from the forwarding date. In the process, I mistakenly stamped the original forwarding letter dated 27 June 2023,” he said.
