How ex-IRT boss, Abba Kyari, got N200m with 10 bank accounts —Witness
ABUJA—Trial of a detained Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, over his alleged non-disclosure of his assets, resumed before the Federal High Court, in Abuja, yesterday, with a witness narrating how investigations exposed that the defendant received over N200 million through 10 different bank accounts.
The witness, Mr Ahmed Yero, who identified himself as a Chief Investigator with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said the various accounts were tracked through the defendant’s Bank Verification Number, BVN.
He told the court that though a total of 12 bank accounts were traced to Kyari who hitherto headed the Police Intelligence Response Team, IRT, however, two of the accounts were found to be dormant.
Testifying as the ninth prosecution witness, PW-9, Mr Yero, told the court that he was on February 14, 2022, directed to lead a team from NDLEA’s Directorate of Assets & Financial Investigation, to look into assets owned by the defendant.
He told the court that in furtherance of the investigation, the defendant was asked to declare his assets.
According to the witness, though Kyari declared that he only had three bank accounts, however, through the BVN portal that was made available to the agency by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, “we discovered that he owned and operated 10 active bank accounts.”
The PW-9 told the court that the defendant operated different domiciliary accounts for Dollars, Euro and Pound Sterling.
“One of the accounts is a salary account from which the 1st defendant collected salaries and other allowances from the police.
“After we got all the bank statements, we analysed the documents to understand if there was anything that would warrant an explanation by the defendant.
“We firstly looked at the UBA account which he uses to collect salaries. We investigated the account for a period of 16 years, spanning from 2006 to 2022.”
The witness told the court that from the analysis, it was discovered that inflows into the accounts was greater than all the entitlements the defendant received from the police.
He further told the court that it was uncovered that monies were wired directly from the CBN into the defendant’s account and tagged as “operational funds.”
“However, most of the funds were later transferred to family members and associates of the defendant.
“What we also did was to calculate everything the defendant earned in salaries and everything that came into the account from the CBN. We discovered that there was over N200million, above what he should have earned officially.”
The witness told the court that Kyari refused to offer any written statement to the NDLEA, saying he would prefer to give his explanations in court.
Meanwhile, the court admitted in evidence, statements of accounts of the defendant, as well as the BVN analysis of the accounts and marked them as exhibits, even though the defence lawyers, led by Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, challenged their admissibility and reserved his reasons till a later stage in the trial.
Continuing his testimony, the witness told the court that though the defendant claimed that he was into agriculture, he failed to adduce any evidence to establish the claim.
Answering questions under cross-examination, the witness said he was aware that Kyari was once described as a super-cop.
He admitted that the nature of the defendant’s work entailed that he moved to various locations in the country to tackle serious crimes that included terrorism.
The witness said his team did not investigate the number of operations that were carried out by the Kyari-led IRT or amounts that were expended in each operation.
He also told the court that he was not aware that the defendant was ever convicted before any court, insisting that while he declared some of his assets, including landed properties in Maiduguri, Borno State, he failed to declare others.
The PW-9 added that the defendant claimed that some of the assets that were traced to him, either belonged to his late father or his wife.
The witness equally admitted that there was nothing in the law prohibiting anyone from having one or more bank accounts.
Trial Justice James Omotosho adjourned further hearing in the matter till March 24, even as the NDLEA disclosed its intention to produce two more witnesses before the court.
Earlier in the proceedings on Thursday, a Compliance Officer with Sterling bank, Mr. David Ajoma, tendered three bundles of documents that included the statement of an account belonging to the defendant.
The NDLEA is prosecuting DCP Kyari alongside his two siblings, Mohammed Kyari and Ali, on a 10-count amended charge that borders on alleged attempt to conceal their assets.
Kyari is also facing another eight-count charge bordering on the allegation that his IRT team tampered with cocaine they seized from two convicted drug peddlers they arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu.
He is facing trial alongside four members of his team; ACP Sunday J. Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu.
The defendants had since pleaded their innocence to the charge, even as the trial court remanded them in prison custody, pending the determination of the case against them.