N894m Reps contract followed due process, says witness

[PeoplesDaily]

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A Prosecution Witness in the on-going trial of former Speaker of the House of Representatives yesterday told a Federal High Court in Abuja that due process was followed in the award of the N894 million supply contract in the House of Representatives during the reign former Speaker Dimeji Bankole.

The witness, Bukoye Lasisi, Director of Finance and Accounts of the National Assembly told the Court, sitting before Justice Elvis Chukwu that the Clerk of the House of Representatives was the person that authorized the payment for the contract for which the former Speaker is being tried.

Bankole is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 16-count criminal charge bothering on contract inflation and abuse of office while he was Speaker of the House of Representatives.

At the resumed hearing of the matter yesterday, the witness, under across examination, told the court that: "The general practice for the award of contract at the House of Representatives is that the Speaker and the Clerk of the House give authorization for payment for any contract, but in this instant case, it was the Clerk of the house of Representatives that authorized the payment for the contract".

The prosecution witness further told the court that the former speaker did not take part in the process that led to the award of the contract.

Specifically, the anti-graft agency alleged that Bankole rigged bid for the purchase of three units of Mercedes Benz S-600 cars, two units of Range Rover vehicles (without bullet proofs) and 400 units of DSTV systems, by refusing to follow all the procedures prescribed for public procurements in Sections 17 to 56 of the Public Procurement Act No.14 of 2007, leading to a loss of value to the national treasury and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58(4)(e) of the Public Procurement Act, No.14 of 2007 and punishable under Section 58(5) of the same Act.

The witness said spirited efforts by the agency to trace the benefiting companies proved abortive as they were non-existent. He said the investigation was prompted by a petition that was lodged before the anti-graft agency by Bankole's colleagues in the House, led by Mr. Dino Melaye.

"My Lord, after our thorough investigations with the C.A.C, and close perusal of the documents used by the then leadership of the House of Representatives under the accused person in the award of the said contracts, we found out that the contact details of the beneficiary companies were non-existent, letters sent to the purported addresses on the contract papers, were returned two weeks later for reason of non-existence of the addresses," he added.

The post N894m Reps contract followed due process, says witness appeared first on Peoples Daily Newspaper, Nigeria.

Peoples Daily Newspaper