The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, March 14, arraigned the trio of Malam Kabir Ismail, Manu Aliyu Muhammad and Aji Dan’azumi Ali before Justice Abubakar Jauro of the Gombe State High Court on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining goods by false pretence and forgery.
Ismail, a member of the Committee Auren Zawarawa, the Gombe State Government Committee on Divorcee Welfare, connived with the other two defendants to defraud the government of about N19.8 million.
They were alleged to have sometime in October 2014, engaged the services of Mustapha Muhammed Zarewa, to secure the contract to supply three trucks of rice. However, after supplying a truck of the 600 bags of rice, amounting to about N6.6 million, Ismail declined to pay him.
Investigations by the EFCC, however, revealed that the various documents used by Ismail to award the contract to Zarewa was in fact, forged. The supplied bags of rice were also diverted for personal use.
One of the counts reads, “That you, Kabir Ismail, Manu Aliyu Muhammed and Aji Dan’azumi Ali, sometimes in October 2014, at Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did fraudulently obtain 600 bags of rice, valued at N6.6 million only from one Mustapha Muhammed, under the false pretence that the said goods were meant for supply to Gombe State Zawarawa Implementation Committee (Gombe State Government Committee on Divorcees’ Welfare), which you never did and diverted same to your personal use and thereby committed an offence under Section 1 (1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of same Act.”
They pleaded “not guilty” to the charges and in view of their pleas, the prosecution counsel, M. S. Aliyu, urged the court to fix a date for trial to commence.
Justice Jauro, while ordering the defendants to be remanded in prison custody, fixed March 30 and 31, for hearing.
