Businessman Raymond Dokpesi was yesterday arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja on a six-count charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Dokpesi and his company, Daar Investment and Holding Company Limited, were charged with breaching Public Procurement Act (PPA), engaging in money laundering and violating the EFCC Act by accepting proceeds of crime.
They were accused of accepting N2,120,000,000 from former National Security Adviser (NSA), Mohammed Sambo Dasuki, for the last presidential campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) without going through due process as required under the PPA.
Dokpesi, dressed casually in a shirt and pair of trousers, pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him by a court official.
When asked if he understood the charge, Dokpesi, who stood in the dock all through the proceedings, said he understood all the counts, but that they are all falsehood.
He even added an element of humour to the proceedings when rather than just pleading “not guilty” after a count was read to him, Dokpesi chose to plead by saying “absolutely not guilty”. In an instance, he went further to spell the words “not guilty”.
While pleading to count one, he said: “I am absolutely not guilty.” He proceeded to mention each letter of the words “not guilty”. And at a point, he repeated “not guilty” three times, saying it was for emphasis, to which everyone in court laughed.
After his plea was taken, the lead prosecution, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) applied for a day for the commencement of trial. He said his five witnesses were ready.
Dokpesi’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, who was accompanied by Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN) urged the court to hear Dokpesi’s bail application which he filed yesterday.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole elected to hear the bail application today at 12.30 pm to enable the prosecution file his response to the application. He ordered that Dokpesi be remanded in the custody of the EFCC, where his lawyer said he had been kept for some days now.
They were in Count one alleged to have “conducted procurement fraud by means of fraudulent and corrupt act, to wit: receipt of payment into the account of Daar Investment and Holding Company Limited with First Bank of Nigeria Plc, of public funds in the sum of N2,120,000,000 from the account of the office of National Security Adviser with the Central Bank of Nigeria for the funding of media activities for the 2015 presidential election for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).”
In Count two, they were said to have “entered into a purported contract on presidential media initiative and received payment in the sum of N2,120, 000, 000 into the account of Daar Investment and Holding Company Limited with First Bank of Nigeria Plc from the account of the office of the National Security Adviser with the Central Bank of Nigeria on the account of the purported contract without a ‘Certificate of no objection to the contract award,’ duly issued by the Public Procurement Bureau.”
They were, in Count three, said to have “entered into a purported contract on presidential media initiative and received, 2,120,000,000 into the account of Daar Investment and Holding Company Limited with First Bank of Nigeria Plc from the account of the National Security Adviser with the Central Bank of Nigeria on account of the purported contract, without any open competitive bidding for the said contract.”
In count four, they were said to have “submitted a proposal for the contract on presidential media initiative and received payment in the sum of N2,120,000,000 into the account of Daar Investment and Holding Company Limited with First Bank of Nigeria Plc from the account of the office of National Security Adviser with the Central Bank of Nigeria on account of the purported contract, without a written and comprehensive request to you by the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
They, in count five, allegedly “took control of N2,120,000,000 paid into the account of Daar Investment and Holding Limited with First Bank of Nigeria Plc from the account of the office of the National Security Adviser with the Central Bank of Nigeria, which sum you reasonably ought to have known was a proceed of an unlawful act, to wit: fund obtained from corruption.”
Dokpesi and his company, Count six said, “knew that an aggregate sum of N2,120,000,000 directly represented the proceed of criminal conduct Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and Shuaibu Salisu, who were National Security Adviser and Director of Finance, Office of the National Security Adviser respectively, to wit: criminal breach of trust in respect of the said amount, used the said property.”
According to the prosecutor, the offences captured in counts 1, 2, 3 and 4 are said to be contrary to sections 58(4)(b);16(1)(b), (4) & (5); 16((1)(c) & (d) & 45(3) and 46 of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and punishable under Section 58(6) &(7) of the same Act.
The offence in Count 5 is said to be contrary to Section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act and punishable under Section 15(3) and (4) of the same Act. The offence in Count 6 is said to be punishable under Section 17(b) of the EFCC Act.
