SAHARA REPORTERS

UPDATED: Chief Bode George To Remain in EFCC Custody Till Next Tuesday

Last View on Fri 8th August, 2008
Last Modified on Fri 08th August, 2008 2:38:35 pm
Author: Posted by Admin SaharaSaharaReporters, New York

Chief Bode George, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart was arraigned before   arraigned before an Ikeja High Court with Justice Olubunmi  Oyewole presiding. He was slammed with 163 counts of fraud, abuse of office and embezzlement of public funds while he was the board chairman of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA). Chief George was flown to the Lagos office of the EFCC from Abuja and spent a good deal of yesterday writing his statements and answering questions from EFCC investigators.

George was arraigned with four others namely: Architect Aminu Dabo, Zanna Mai Deribe, Akin O. Abidoye, Alhaji Abdullahi Aminu Tafida, they were all charged before the Ikeja High court. The judge struck out the name of one R.S Anah who was said to be currently "At large" by EFCC prosecutors.

Saharareporters had earlier reported of intrigues between the EFCC and the Lagos CJ who did not appear in court today.  Aides to the CJ earlier claimed that today was the CJ's birthday hence he couldn't come to court.
 
The EFCC arrived with Chief George to the Ikeja division of the Lagos High Court at exactly 8 :00 AM to the waiting hands of journalists.
 However, the proceedings only started after the EFCC had left in frustration hoping to return on Monday. Saharareporters sources said that about 4:00 PM Justice Oyewole surfaced and took on the case.

The EFCC has accordingly arraigned Bode George on a 164 -count charge alongside 4  other former management staff of the Nigeria Port Authority with whom he allegedly embezzled N84 billion naira in contract awards that violated federal guidelines for awarding contracts. Over 24,000 contracts were awarded to phony contractors within the period in question.

 The proceedings were almost marred by the arrival of Chief George's political supporters to the court, the PDP crowd led by one Muyiwa Collins, started gathering as early as  9 : 00 AM today, but  200 policemen  mobilized to the scene to quell any riots that might ensue.  The crowd thinned out after 6: 00 PM midway into the court proceedings that lasted till 8:00 PM.

The arraignment of Chief George took a long time because the court  started late as all the 163 charges had to be read to him and 4 other defendants.  After taking their plea Justice Oyewole adjourned till next week  Tuesday after requesting the EFCC to keep the accused persons in their custody till the next adjourned court date.

BREAKING NEWS: Chief Bode George Arrested

Last View on Fri 8th August, 2008
Last Modified on Thu 07th August, 2008 4:46:14 am
Author: Posted by Admin Sahara SaharaReporters, New York

After an intense game of hide and seek  in the Maitama area of Abuja, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested Chief Bode George, a retired navy commodore and chieftain of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) late night on Wednesday.

SaharaReporters had exclusively reported that Chief George was penciled down for arrest over his tenure as the chairman of the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), a period that resulted in the theft of billions of naira by members of the NPA board of which Chief George was chairman.

SaharaReporters could not confirm officially from the EFCC regarding Chief George's whereabouts, but a source close to the operations told our reporters that he is being quizzed at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja.

Chief George recently returned from a prolonged trip to the UK and US, where SaharaReporters exclusively reported he had taken a flight to escape arrest, but upon return to Nigeria last week he bragged before airport correspondents that he was never on exile.
 The Case Against Bode George:

WITNESS STATEMENT ON OATH BY MR. BAMANGA BELLO ON SUPOENA

 

I, MR. BAMANGA BELLO, Male of No 15A Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State do hereby make oath and state as follows:

 1.       I am an Investigation Officer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

 2.       Sometimes in the year 2005, I was called upon by the Chairman of the Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to represent him in the Committee set up by the Federal Government to review and verify contracts awarded by the Nigerian Ports Authority (hereinafter referred to as “NPA”) from 2001 to 2003

 
3.       The name of the committee is Special Committee on Review And Verification of Contracts Awarded by the NPA from 2001 to 2003.

 
4.       I represented Mallam Nuhu Ribadu during the Committee sittings.

 
5.       Chief Olabode George was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nigeria Ports Authority during the period under investigation.

 
6.       The Board of NPA under the chairmanship of Chief Olabode George approved various contracts without due process and in clear violations of extant Government rules and regulations, orders and laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 
7.       Under the Federal Government Treasury Circulars Ref No: F.15775 dated 27th June 2001 and Ref No. TRY A & B4/2002 dated 5th July 2002, issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation respectively, all contracts above N50 million should be referred to the Federal Executive Council while those between N20 million and N50 million are to be referred to Ministerial Tenders Board, Contracts worth between  One Million Naira and N20 million are to be approved by Board of Directors, N1 million contracts by Permanent Secretaries and Contracts worth Seven Hundred Thousand Naira and below are to be approved by Chief Executive of Parastatals.

 
8        Contrary to the above circulars and the relevant laws the Board of Nigeria Ports Authority under the Chairmanship of Chief Olabode George illegally conferred approval limits of N60 million on the Board, N30 million on the executive management, N10 million on the Managing Directors, N2 million on the Executive Directors, N700,000.00 on the General Managers and N500,000.00 on the Ports Managers. The action of the Board in disregarding the extant government rules and regulations on award of contracts contravenes section 203 of the Criminal Code.

 
9.       Investigation revealed that the Nigeria Ports Authority during the period under review awarded over 24,252 contracts valued at over N100 billion.

 
10.     The Board under the Chairmanship of Chief Olabode George during the period under investigation approved various contracts which only the Ministerial Tenders Board or the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had power to approve and thereby contravened Section 61 of the Criminal Code.11.     During the period under investigation various contracts which ordinarily should have been referred to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) or the Ministerial Tenders Board for approval were fraudulently split into many units by the Board under the Chairmanship of Chief Olabode George with the intention of circumventing extant government rules and regulations so that the contract amount will fall within the boards approval limits for the purpose of gain making by the Board.The Act of fraudulent split of contracts is tantamount to abuse of office contrary to Section 104 of the Criminal Code.
 
11.     During the period under investigation various contracts which ordinarily should have been referred to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) or the Ministerial Tenders Board for approval were fraudulently split into many units by the Board under the Chairmanship of Chief Olabode George with the intention of circumventing extant government rules and regulations so that the contract amount will fall within the boards approval limits for the purpose of gain making by the Board.The Act of fraudulent split of contracts is tantamount to abuse of office contrary to Section 104 of the Criminal Code.
 

12.     It was also revealed during the period under investigation that contracts awarded by the Board were generally inflated as can be seen from the Report of the Committee and annexures II. The Act of inflation of contract prices is tantamount to conspiracy and stealing contrary to sections 516 and 390 of the Criminal Code. This action also contravened Section 22(3) of the ICPC Act 2000.

 

13.     During the investigation Chief Olabode George was invite, interviewed and interrogated by the Committee.

 

14.     It was also discovered that Chief Olabode George left office with about four vehicles belonging to Nigeria Ports Authority which prompted the Committee to write to him as a result of which he returned the vehicles to the Nigeria Ports Authority.

 

15.     Contrary to Government Regulation the Claimant occupied two properties belonging to the NPA at Ikoyi, Lagos and Maitama, Abuja.

 

16.     Even after the Claimant had been removed as the Chairman of the NPA he was still occupying the two properties contrary to Government Regulations.

 

17.     It was also revealed that numerous contracts were awarded in foreign currencies at highly inflated rates for supply of items that were easily obtainable in Nigeria markets. Items such as umbrella, ball pens, fire services equipments etc.

 

18.     Most of the contracts awarded by the NPA under the leadership of Chief Olabode George were not budgeted for contrary to Section 22(4) of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission Act (ICPC).

 

19.     Chief Olabode George presided over the meetings in which the decision to award the contracts were taken.

 

20.     It was observed in the investigation that the Nigeria Ports Authority was operating under serious pressure from top government functionaries, legislators and party leaders for contract awards which was largely responsible for award of spurious contracts based on patronage rather than need.

 

21.     It was also discovered that 100% advance payments were made at the Nigeria Ports Authority London office in contravention of the provisions of the Federal Government circular No: F.15775 of 27 June 2001 which stipulates a maximum 25% for all upfront payments. Between August 2002 and August 2003, Nigeria Ports Authority made 100% advance payments to 23 contractors at their London Office and some of these contracts were yet to be executed as at the time of the investigation.

 

22.     I believe that the facts I have stated in this document are true.

 

 …………………………….

MR. BAMANGA BELLO

(Witness)

 

SWORN TO AT the High

Court Registry, Ikeja,

Date this………. Day of December, 2007