More facts have emerged on why the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission withdrew the case against the Kogi State Government.
The EFCC had dragged Kogi State to court over an alleged infraction on a N20 billion salary bailout fund.
The anti-graft agency has in August accused top officials of the Kogi State Government of diverting the N20 billion bailout loan channeled through Sterling Bank and fixed same with the bank instead of using the funds for the purpose for which it was meant.
Back then, the Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, had strongly rebuffed the position of the EFCC, insisting that the funds were judiciously utilised as stipulated for salaries, wondering how funds that had been disbursed could still be fixed.
However, documents authored by Sterling Bank, obtained over the weekend, showed why the EFCC, despite its earlier claims of hard evidence on the alleged diversion of the funds, discontinued the case by mid-October 2021.
The EFCC had requested the forfeiture of the fund.
In a letter by Sterling Bank to the Kogi State Commissioner for Finance, Mukadam Asiru Idris, dated September 1, 2021, titled: “RE: REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION REGARDING CERTAIN ALLEGED TRANSACTIONS WITH YOUR BANK BY THE KOGI STATE GOVERNMENT BEING INVESTIGATED BY THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION,” the Bank, which revealed its surprise and dismay at the media narration surrounding the transactions, said: “In the light of the above submissions, permit us to respond to your enquiry as follows:
Sterling Bank Letter of 1st Sept, 2021
“The Kogi State government does not currently operate or maintain a fixed deposit account with Sterling Bank.
“There is no mandate letter from the Kogi State government to open account number 0073572696 with Sterling Bank.
“Sterling Bank account 0073572696 is an internal (mirror) account operated by the Bank for purposes of managing the Kogi State salary bailout facility.”
Another crucial evidence that seemed to have completely changed the narrative was the affidavit deposed to by the Chief Compliance Officer of Sterling Bank, Muktadir Jaiyeola, with the Managing Director of the Bank as 2nd applicant, in a suit on the matter filed at a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos State on December 1, 2021.
The affidavit came upon repeated invitations by the Kogi State House of Assembly to the bank to clear the air on the allegations by the EFCC against the government.
Sterling Bank, in the affidavit, contrary to the claims of the EFCC, indicated that the Kogi State Government did not fix any N20 billion with it and confirmed that the funds alleged to have been fixed were fully disbursed to several beneficiaries at the instance of the Kogi State Government.
In Paragraph 12 of the affidavit, the Bank said: “At the direction of the Kogi State Government, payments were made from Kogi State Government Salary Account to several beneficiaries between the 23rd July 2019 and 25th July 2019 and the entirety of the Kogi State Salary Bail out intervention fund in the sum of NGN20 Billion was fully disbursed at the instance of the Kogi State Government.”
Frowning at repeated invitation sent by the state House of Assembly to the Managing Director of Sterling Bank, asking him to appear in person, the Bank further exonerated the state government.
In Paragraph 23 of the affidavit, the Bank reiterated that there was nothing like a fixed deposit account opened by the Kogi State Government for the bailout fund as stated in its September 1, 2021 response letter to the state.
It said: “There was no mandate to open the alleged fixed deposit account;
“The Kogi State Government did not operate a fixed deposit account;
“The account referred to as a fixed deposit account is an internal account operated for the purpose of managing the bail out facility.”
Following the cold trail in the investigations into the alleged diversion of the bailout fund, the state government, through the Commissioner for Finance in a letter dated November 24, 2022, almost a year after an initial letter to the Central Bank of Nigeria to clear the air, reminded the bank to speak on the issue and make its investigations public.
But it reportedly got no response till date.
The Kogi State Government alleged on Thursday that the fresh media trial by the EFCC was in continuation of the Commission’s “Destroy Kogi” agenda, having met a brick wall with its “bailout fund plot”.
