×

Most Widely Read Newspaper

Dokpesi got N2.1bn from ONSA without executing contract – Witness

Raymond Dokpesi1

Raymond Dokpesi

Ade Adesomoju, Abuja

An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s detective, Mr. Osaz Ozanobor, on Thursday told a Federal High Court in Abuja, that the African Independent Television’s founder, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, and his Daar Investment and Holdings Limited received a total sum of N2.1bn from the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2015 without award or execution of any contract to justify the payment.

Testifying as the fifth prosecution witness in the businessman and the company’s ongoing trial, Ozanobor said, ONSA stated in a correspondence to the EFCC that it did not award any contract to the defendants but confirmed that it paid them the total sum of N2,120,000,000 between January and March 2015.

The witness also said the Bureau of Public Procurement, the body regulating public procurement by government agencies, confirmed through a correspondence that its database had neither the record of Daar Investment and Holdings Limited nor any contract bidding process in which the company participated.

The EFCC is prosecuting Dokpesi and his company on six counts bordering on the sum of N2.1bn which they allegedly received from the Office of the National Security Adviser between January and March 2015.

The EFCC accused the defendants of money laundering and other charges relating to procurement fraud against them by allegedly receiving the sum of N2.12bn from ONSA to prosecute Peoples Democratic Party’s 2015 presidential media campaign.

Dokpesi and Daar Investments were said to have received the sum of N2.12bn from ONSA, while the gency was being headed by Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), as payment for a “purported contract on presidential media initiative”.

Stay informed and ahead of the curve! Follow The Punch Newspaper on WhatsApp for real-time updates, breaking news, and exclusive content. Don't miss a headline – join now!

Join The Punch Newspapers Channel