A staff of Fidelity Bank, Mrs. Anne Gyen, has told the Jos division of the Federal High Court 2 that she cashed out the sum of N450 million for the former Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe and two others in 2015. Mrs. Anne Gyen, who testified before Justice Musa Kurya, as principal witness to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said she was head of operation in the Jos branch of the bank when the former Minister, Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe, the former Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau state, Raymond Dabo and the state campaign coordinator of Goodluck Jonathan, Evangelist LeoSunday Jitong, went and withdrew the amount. She said: “I have received a mail from our head office in Lagos ordering me that beneficiaries identified as Sarah Ochekpe, Raymond Dabo and Evangelist LeoJitong would come to our bank and make a withdrawal of N450m.”
She further told the court that the branch was short of the cash but that she went to Jos branch of the CBB to get the money. “We don’t have the money in our branch, that makes me to go to CBN Jos branch, and after due process I collected the sum of N450 million and took the cash to my bank.
The beneficiaries came to my bank to collect the money,” she added. The witness told the court that, having verified the beneficiaries by their valid identify cards, she paid then them the amount, saying: “Sarah presented her ID card of Federal Ministry of Water Resources, while Raymond Dabo presented Voters Card and Evangelist Leo, presented driver’s license and I gave them withdrawal instrument which required them to write their names, signatures and phone numbers.” She tendered the withdrawal documents in support of her oral testimony.
However, defence counsel, Barr. Sunday Oyawole, argued that the witness was not the maker of the tendered documents, and therefore urged the court to discard it. The trio are standing trial in a suit No. FHC/J/141C/2017 before the court on a two-count charge filed by the EFCC, alleging conspiracy and laundering. Justice Musa Kurya, thereafter, adjourned the case to 17th and 18th May, 2018 for ruling and continuation of hearing. The court had in its previous setting, sized the defendants’ international passports, and granted them.
