Justice Christy Dabup of a Plateau State High Court, sitting in Jos, on Wednesday, February 9, 2022 admitted more evidence against a former Plateau State governor, Senator David Jonah Jang, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for alleged N6.32 billion fraud.
At the resumed trial today, the minutes of both the State’s Security and Executive Council meetings between 2014 and 2015 during Jang’s tenure were tendered by counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, through the eight prosecution witness (PW8), Nanman Jonah Kabong, a Civil Servant in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government. They were admitted and marked as exhibits P40, P41, P42 and P43.
Led in evidence by Jacobs, SAN, Kabong told the court that there was no Council deliberation on the Plateau State Government’s decision to borrow money from SUBEB. However, he stated that the were was a request by the state Commissioner for Finance for a N5billion loan facility from SUBEB to finance ongoing infrastructure development in the state, which was approved, including another N600million facility which was also approved.
He also stated that a N2.5 billion bond was discussed at the Council meeting but was not approved because the administration had two months left of its tenure.
Also, PW9, Sylvester Chwang Davon, a retired permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, said he was appointed in 2014 as General Manager of Plateau State Small and Medium Enterprises Development (PALSMEDEN).
Explaining the circumstances in which funds meant for PLASMEDEN was lodged in project one account, the witness narrated how he went to the Central Bank and met with the Director, Development Finance of the bank.
“At CBN Abuja, the director of development finance who oversaw it, Mr. Mudashiru Olaitan explained to me that the government of Plateau State wanted the money to be sent to Project 1 account but expressed reservations about it. He was not comfortable with that, I transmitted his reservations to the Commissioner for Finance, and Managing Director of PIPE under whom PLASMEDEN was; he told me that CBN preferred that PLASMEDEN open an account.
“We opened this account, and, after a while, the Director, Mudashiru Olaitan sent a text message to inform me that the CBN had released the N2 billion to Plateau State.”
The witness said he was surprised that he did not receive the payment alert being the General Manager of PLASMEDEN.
“I went to the Bank to meet the manager of Zenith Bank Jos. He confirmed that the N2 billion had come but was lodged into the project 1 account and I went to commissioner for finance who also confirmed that the money had come into project 1 account,” said.
Jang’s counsel, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, and S. O. Oyawole who appeared for the second defendant, cross-examined the witnesses.
The case has been adjourned till February 10, 2022 for continuation of trial.
Jang and Pam were first arraigned in June 2018, on 17-count charges bordering on misappropriation of funds and criminal breach of trust. He was re-arraigned in February this year, following the re-assignment of the case to Justice Dabup by the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Yakubu Dakwak after the former trial judge, Justice Daniel Longji, on his last day on the bench (December 29, 2019), dismissed the defendants’ no-case-submission, and held that they have a case to answer
