ADENIYI Adebayo, the 12th prosecution witness in the trial of former minister of Interior, Patrick Abba Moro, former permanent secretary in the ministry, Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, an ex-director in the same ministry Felix Alayebami, and Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd for money laundering and procurement fraud on Wednesday, October 30, told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, that the defendants created an e-recruitment portal to fraudulently collect funds from job applicants.
Adebayo, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) while being cross-examined by counsel of the first defendant, Paul Erokoro, SAN, pointed out that Moro and Drexel Tech Nig. Ltd did not follow the rules of the Procurement Act.
He noted that the contract agreement was done with Drexel Tech Global Ltd but that Drexel Tech Nig. Ltd was used to execute the contract which it did not bid for.
The witness also revealed that the board of Immigrations, Fire Service, Civil Defence and Prisons was not carried along in the contract award process.
This act, according to Adeniyi, constituted an abuse of office on the part of Moro.
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba adjourned till November 25, 2019 for the continuation of the cross-examination of the witness.
Recall that the EFCC has since 2015 intensified efforts to trace and recover about N600 million said to have been realized from the proceeds of the online registration by job seekers, who enrolled for the ill-fated immigration recruitment in 2014.
Before the ill-fated exercise in which 15 people died as a result of stampeded, candidates were made to part with N1,000 through a company allegedly engaged by top politicians and officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) which amounted to about N600 million but which has disappeared.
