The former Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, is expected to appear before a Federal High Court, Abuja, to clarify his role in the supposed misuse of the N2.5 billion Digital Switch-Over (DSO) program of the Federal Government.
Mr Mohammed’s scheduled appearance was disclosed by the Independent Corrupt Practice and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), which prosecutes the National Broadcasting Commission’s Director-General (NBC), Ishaq Kawu, for supposed abuse of office and money laundering.
The ICPC said this on Thursday in a post on its website. A committee spokesperson later informed reporters that Mr Mohammed will appear as a witness.
The anti-graft body had lodged a 12-count charge against Mr Kawu, Lucky Omoluwa and Dipo Onifade, the Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Pinnacle Communications Limited, respectively, before Justice Folashade Ogunbanjo-Giwa, claiming that the NBC Director General misled the former minister in approving public funds for a private company.
The participation of the former minister had been questioned after ICPC discovered during inquiries that the head of NBC supposedly flouted a government white paper that governs the execution of the DSO program.
However, in a declaration to the Commission, Mr Mohammed confessed that he was misled by Kawu, as a witness of the ICPC, Osanato Olugbemi, testified in court.
Mr Olugbemi, led by ICPC lawyer, Henry Emore, also informed the court that the payment of N2.5 billion from NBC to Pinnacle Communications Limited as a seed grant was questionable because ICPC, through its inquiries, discovered that only government-owned company had been allowed to profit from the White Paper grant.
The court also learned that the procedures leading to the final payment of the fund to the private company were covered up in secrecy as disclosed by the minute of an NBC emergency board session where problems of carriage charges owed to Pinnacle were discussed and not seed grant.
He informed the court that the chairman of Pinnacle Communications, Mr. Omoluwa, had initiated 47 questionable transactions immediately after receiving the funds on June 2, 2017.
The transactions include N363 million payments to one Idowu Olatunde, N274.4 million payments to one James Segun and N127 million payments to Dipo Onifade, the company’s chief operating officer.
He told the court that when requested by ICPC, Mr. Omoluwa refused to explain the reasons for the payments to Messrs Olatunde and James, but Mr. Onifade clarified that he had received the N127 million as legal charges that he had provided to Pinnacle Communications Limited.
An operator of a Bureau de Change, Salisu Daura, who also testified in court, said he got N167 million from Pinnacle Communications Limited in two installments of N97 million and N70 million respectively.
Mr Daura added that the amounts were transformed to $265, 000 and $195, 735 respectively, at the rate of N360 to the US dollar, and handed over in cash to one Alhaji Sabo, allegedly on behalf of Pinnacle Communications.
Advocate for the accused, Alex Iziyon (SAN), A Yusuf and A. V. Etuwewe for Omoluwa, Onifade, Kawu and Pinnacle Communications, respectively, took turns to cross-examine the two witnesses after which the case was adjourned until 1 July 2019 for the continuation of the trial and the judge’s decision on two pending applications.
