The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday alleged that a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh (retd.), diverted N558,200,000 monthly from the account of the Nigerian Air Force when Badeh was the Chief of Air Staff.
The anti-graft agency said this when it opened its case against the ex-CDS before a Federal High Court in Abuja.

The EFCC is prosecuting Badeh alongside a firm, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, on 10 counts of money laundering bordering on alleged fraudulent removal of about N3.97bn from the NAF’s account.

The commission alleged that Badeh used the fund to buy and develop landed assets in Abuja for himself and his two sons between January and December 2013.

Badeh served as the Chief of Air Staff and later became the Chief of Defence Staff till he retired from the military last year.

He attended the Wednesday’s proceedings from prison and returned there after the court session as he had yet to meet the N2bn bail condition imposed on him by the court.

Testifying as the first prosecution witness on Wednesday, a former Director of Finance and Account of the NAF, Air Commodore Aliyu Yishau (retd.), narrated how he routinely helped Badeh to divert the sum of N558.2m by converting it to its dollar equivalent.

He said he usually handed the dollar equivalent of the money to Badeh at his official residence on a monthly basis.

Yishau, who was led in evidence by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), said the diversion took place from September  2012 to December, 2013, when Badeh served as the Chief of Air Staff.

The witness, who testified for about six hours on Wednesday, said the NAF usually received monthly allocations in its Capital Vote account with the Central Bank of Nigeria in Lagos; the Overhead Vote account with the Zenith Bank Plc and the Personnel and Emolument Vote account with the UBA.

He said the sum of N558.2m was drawn from the Personnel and Emolument account as fund meant for “general administration of the Chief of Air Staff”’.

Yishau told Justice Okon Abang on Wednesday that he aided Badeh to acquire and develop landed assets in Abuja with the N558.2m, which was being drawn  from the Personnel Emolument account of the NAF on a monthly basis.

He said the N558.2m was part of the excess in the N4bn, which the NAF received monthly in the personnel and emolument account after the salaries and allowances of permanent and temporary staff must have been paid.

He said, “Although, I cannot remember the figure each year, we received a little about N4bn monthly for the personnel emolument allocation account. However, our total wage bill as of that time was above N2bn monthly.

“The balance of the personnel emolument was usually about N1.6bn to N1.7bn, depending on the month. Out of this amount, the sum of N558,200,000 was for  the general administration of the Chief of Army Staff monthly.

“Concerning the N558,200,000, the instruction was always given to me as the Director of Accounts and I passed same instruction to the Finance Officer at the headquarters of NAF camp, Abuja.

“The money is changed to dollar, when this money is changed, it was brought to me and I would take it to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, at his official residence in Niger Barracks.”

He said there were no documents showing the monthly deliveries of the dollar equivalent of the N558.2m to Badeh because it was not the practice in the military to request a written agreement.

He said, “As military officers, we don’t request for any agreement. However, in some cases, I told the finance officers to meet me at the Air House in Niger Barracks with the money so that he could see when I handed over the money to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh.

“The instruction for conversion is not in writing. The Chief of Air Staff does give many instructions that are not in writing.

“The only instructions that were in writing were those requests forwarding instructions from branches and units for approval. When the approvals are given, they are forwarded to my office for necessary payment action.”

He said he did not directly benefit from the monthly diversion of the N558.2m but that Badeh helped him to complete the landed assets he was constructing in Abuja and Kaduna.

According to him, all the said landed assets had been marked by the EFCC.

The witness, who said Badeh was the second Chief of Air Staff that he served as the Director of Finance Accounts, added that Badeh’s predecessor, M. D. Umar, was still being investigated by the EFCC.

Yishau explained that Badeh provided the dollar equivalents for the purchase of the various properties, which he assisted him to locate in various parts of Abuja.

The witness said he helped Badeh to purchase the property allegedly at No. 6, Ogun River Street, Off Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja, with dollar equivalent of N1.1bn.

He added, “Sometimes in January 2013, when I was taking the normal amount to him (Chief of Air Staff) in dollars, he directed that we should pay for the house. So he brought out the balance in dollars and made up the equivalent of N1.1bn.

“I gave the money to Barrister Hussein Umar and asked him to pay for the house. After the payment, it took sometime before the necessary documents were prepared. But Hussein Umar asked me the names to put on the documents. I asked the Chief Air Staff under which name he wanted the documents to be prepared.”

http://www.punchng.com/badeh-diverted-nafs-n558m-monthly-for-15-months-witness/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

so it is not arms deal money again?

Eleyi gidi gan ooo.

madridguy:
Eleyi gidi gan ooo.

he steal money like aboki.

tit:


he steal money like aboki.

murderator!
your father!
i say abooki not northerner

You no dey sleep ?

tit:


he steal money like aboki.

These people has milked us dry. Thats how they steal to buy all these convoys they r using to chase us out of the road.
Buhari Biko I support u on this,
Let them vomit it!

Lesson to those bashing Baba.

Nigeria would have been run aground had these same people continued in power.

I did feel a sense of misgiving at the prospect of having Buhari at the helm of affairs at some point.

I've always had reservations about these old recycled politicians. Heck, if they couldn't change it back then, what could they possibly offer now? "You don't use yesterday's thinking in today's world," I opined.

In time, sometime in the heat of the elections, Jonathan's tolerance of corruption, or do I dare state penchant for corruption? Well, whichever one, gave him away.

We had not much resources, and in the face of dwindling oil prices, we couldn't possibly afford another four years of wastage and wanton corruption. Besides, regardless how much money the country had in her coffers, a waste is a waste!

So I inclined more towards Buhari, considering he was the only opposition who really stood a chance. And I have since not regretted the choice.

He has his shortcomings as does every human, but that should not detract from him being astute. Our reserves hovering between 27-28 billion US dollars, the TSA having in excess of 3 trillion naira as at today, checkmating corruption and trying of the corrupt are all testament to how excellently he has performed in this regard!

As regards the economy, I'll still give it time. It's hard to feel an impact in an institution without defined structures yet, among other challenges bedeviling the country. At least, we can see that he's trying.

All this yam eaters should get nothing less than 40-50 years In prison with the hardest labour

And some deranged minds who are still struggling for daily bread would still scream....witch hunting!

if you kill 1/2 people, you're just killer

if you kill 3'n above, you're a serial killer.

what do we call an army general that diverts funds meant for war into his personal pocket leaving his combat men/women dying at warfront and thousands civilians dead?

imagine 558m for 15 months

this man deserves to be stone to death

He said, “Although, I cannot remember the figure each year, we received a little about N4bn monthly for the personnel emolument allocation account. However, our total wage bill as of that time was above N2bn monthly


This is why all the security agencies have refused to join the IPPIS scheme. The corruption in their current personnel payroll system is mind boggling and cut across all security agencies. Any arrangement that allows an organisation to have excess of over N1.6billion monthly is just crazy. How will corruption not flourish when such huge amount is available to play with?

Going forward, the PMB administration needs to urgently address this anomaly. Nigeria Army, Air force, Navy, police and civil defence must also be brought into the IPPIS to curb this kind of corruption. The current practice of giving them huge sums monthly for salary payment without proper audited records of the exact number of personnel must stop.

Wailers will soon come here to support him. To them, any evil that happens to nigeria is welcome. Wailing demons!

And people from that side ( not all of them off course) will come here and defend this idiota.

This thieves and not Buhari are the reason for the harsh time we are witnessing.

People want infrastructure, electricity, security and finally a well deserved good life as a Nigerian but will go on to criticise the government for trying people who we all know are thieves.

I wonder how we can realistically expect infrastructure and other things that will give us good life when others keep stealing the money meant for all of us.

We need to talk to ourselves. We need to decide, do we want good life or forgo good life and let the thieves continue. We can't have it both ways.

They criticise Buhari because according to them he should have investigated Tinubu. The same Tinubu that was investigated by OBJ and nothing was found. And these people who keep criticising never for once ask themselves, if Tinubu was so corrupt, how come GEJ who was in power for close to 6 years never investigated him?

Thank GOODNESS Buhari won't listen to anyone.

Na wa, wat i still couldnt comprehend is when a man steal like say 100 milion, then he will be given bail of 2 million. the thing dey baffle me, abeg lawyers in the house update my ignorance. Imagine ds one running into billions but hs bail at 2bil. Let say he run now, na dat 2billion go suffice wetin he stole?

mineANDurs:
These people has milked us dry. Thats how they steal to buy all these convoys they r using to chase us out of the road.
Buhari Biko I support u on this,
Let them vomit it!

Shattap there hypocritical yoruba. Fashola who stole over 20 billion naira, used 70 million to build a website is a serving minister