Documents Expose How Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello Returned To Nigerian Central Bank N20Billion Workers’ Salaries Earlier Diverted To Private Account
In a letter to Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and signed by the director of the development finance department, the CBN acknowledged receiving the funds.
According to documents from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Yahaya Bello-led Kogi State Government recovered N20 billion that had been improperly diverted to a secret bank account in the past to be used for employee salaries.
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In a letter to Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and signed by the director of the development finance department, the CBN acknowledged receiving the funds.
“We would like to confirm the information regarding the receipt of the sum as stated below and refer to your letter dated November 5, 2021.
“Bank: Sterling Bank Plc”
The sum is N19, 333,333,333.36.
Date Received: November 4, 2021
The CBN stated in the document signed by the director of the development finance department, “Please accept the assurances of our sincere regards.
One of the documents stated that on November 4, 2021, the Yahaya Bello administration transferred the diverted funds from a Sterling Bank account back to the CBN’s coffers.
/BNF/ RETURN OF DISB OF FUNDS TO STERLING BANK IFO KOGI STATE UNDER THE SALARY BAILOUT FACILITY was written in another document.”
The action was taken in response to a court order directing Sterling Bank, the financial institution where the state government had secretly stashed the funds, to return the funds to the apex bank.
“It is hereby ordered that the Account upon which this Suit was instituted was frozen by an order of this Honourable Court,” the court order had stated.
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That the management of Sterling Bank Plc, whose account number is 0073572696 and whose account name is Kogi State Salary Bail Out Account, has answered the queries that led to the filing of this lawsuit.
The management of Sterling Bank has admitted that the aforementioned account exists in their records but has asserted that it is a mirror account in the intervening time.
That it is necessary for the lawsuit to be dropped and the account to be unfrozen in order to transfer and return the money to the CBN’s coffers, where the aforementioned bailout fund was distributed.
In a number of reports the contentious N20 billion intended for workers’ salaries in the state was hidden away in a business bank account run by the Bello-led state administration.
A nephew of the governor named Ali Bello was charged by the EFCC on Thursday with a N10 billion fraud before an Abuja Federal High Court.
He was accused of fraudulently withdrawing N10.2 billion from the Kogi State Treasury along with Dauda Sulaiman, Abdulsalami Hudu, and others. Abdulsalami Hudu is currently at large.
They allegedly gave the cash to Rabiu Tafada, a Bureau de Change operator in Abuja, to exchange for foreign currency.
One of the charges reads: “That between January and December 2021, in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, you, Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman, and Abdulsalami Hudu (Now at large) procured Rabiu Usman Tafada to take possession of the total sum of N5,865,756,800 (Five Billion, Eight Hundred and Sixty Five Million, Seven Hundred and Fifty-Six Thousand, Eight Hundred
Another count reads: “That between January and December 2021, in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, you, Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman, and Abdulsalami Hudu (Now at large) aided Rabiu Usman Tafada to retain the total sum of N2,509,650,000.00 (Two Billion Five Hundred and Nine Million, Six Hundred, and Fifty Thousand), which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of
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