Esai Dangabar
By Wilson Uwujaren Ag. Head, Media & Publicity Unit
Esai Dangabar, one of the six accused persons being prosecuted by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a 16 criminal
charges bordering on conspiracy and criminal breach of trust for their
role in defrauding the Police Pension Office to the tune of N32.8
Billion naira (Thirty Two Billion, Eight Hundred Million Naira), was on
Thursday December 13, 2012, arrested for interfering with the properties
which the court had ordered forfeited to the federal government.
Among properties belonging to Esai which the court ordered forfeited
to the federal government on interim basis pending the determination of
the substantive suit are: Block of 3 Bedrooms flats at Gwarinpa (6
units), along EFAB Estate, Life Camp; a Block of Bedrooms flats (6
units) at Mabushi District, beside ministry of works; Estate of 4
Bedroom Duplexes (16 units), behind Wuye Modern Market, Abuja; a mini
Estate at No.19, Ukpabi Asika Street, Asokoro, Abuja; 12 Units of 2
bedroom Flats at 1, Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, Gudu District, Abuja; 5
Bedroom Duplexes 1, Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, Gudu District, Abuja; 4
Bedroom Bungalows at 1, Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, Gudu District, Abuja
and 2 Bedroom flat at Zone C, Apo Resettlement, layout.
Others are: 5 Blocks of One bedroom flats at Zone C, Apo Resettlement
layout, Abuja; Twin duplex of 5 bedroom & 3 rooms, 33, ML Wushishi
BQ 1 Crescent, Utako, Abuja; 2 Blocks of 3 Bedroom flats, Area 3,
Former NYSC Office, Abuja; 2 Bedroom , Area 2, Abuja, Behind Shopping ,
Complex , 3 Bedroom flats , 2 Goran village, along Adi Farms Limited,
Abuja-Keffi Road; 180,000 Litres Storage Facility on a Land of about
5,000sqm, with Office Building, Workshop and 20 Loading Bay 1 Suleja,
Niger State.
Vehicles belonging to Dangabar which have been ordered forfeited to
the government pending the determination of the criminal charges against
him were seven trucks with registration numbers XH 909 RSH; XH 910 RSH;
XH 912 RSH; XH 908 RSH; XH 911; XH 913 RSH and XH 460 KUJ.
Dangabar’s bank accounts forfeited to the government were: two Damule
Nigeria Limited accounts with FCMB; Damule Nigeria Limited account with
Main Street Bank; E. D. Laumara with Access Bank; three account numbers
of Essai Dangabar Laumara’s with Access Bank; Laumara E. Taure account
with Skye Bank; three of AMD Global Logistics account with Skye Bank.
Two accounts of Future Logistics Limited with Skye bank. Three accounts
of Marine Logistics & Leisure Integrated in Skye Bank. Two Damule
Nig Ltd accounts in Skye Bank.
Companies belonging to Dangabar and five others, forfeited to the
EFCC were Halas Investment Limited; At homes; Sy- A Global Services
Limited; Jidag Technical Services Limited; Damule Nigeria Limited;
Marine Logistics; AMD Global Logistics; Future Logistics Ltd; Jenago
Services Limited; H Takano Nigeria Limited; Noni Anthony System Limited;
Saudauna Enterprise limited; Ulover International Resources Limited;
Somadok Express; Kechis Water Bottling Company; Kechis Events Managers;
Kechis Straw; Kechis Plastic Extrusion company; Geopet Petroleum
Services Limited; Aina Farms: Otega Farms, Bannachi Global Links and
Comm. Co. Limited.
But Dangabar approached the Court of Appeal, Abuja division to
challenge the order of the High Court to have his properties forfeited.
The appeal court, in a unanimous ruling on July 24, 2012, dismissed his
application. In a ruling read by Justice Kolawole Bada, the Appeal Court
resolved the three issues raised by Dangabar in favour of the EFCC. Two
other justices who held the same view were Justices Bukar Chua and
Husseini Mukhtar. The court ruled that the interim forfeiture order
pending the hearing of the criminal charge preferred against him is
provided for under the EFCC Act. “The court, having been given that
power, the exercise of it has not taken away the accused right to fair
hearing”, the three justices reasoned.
The court further ruled that the provisions of Section 28 and 29 of
the EFCC Act is validated by Section 44 (2) of the 1999 Constitution and
is therefore constitutional. Additionally, the court ruled that the
presumption of innocence cannot be interpreted to allow a suspect to
retain the proceed of the alleged crime made against him. Accordingly,
the court ruled that Section 34 of the EFCC Act was substantially
complied with by the lower court. He has again proceeded to the Supreme
Court challenging the Appeal Court judgement.
Dangabar and his co travellers returned to the high court to
challenge jurisdiction and prayed the court to quash the charges against
them. But on November 12, 2012, Justice Mohammed Talba of High Court of
the Federal Capital Territory, sitting in Gudu, Abuja dismissed the
applications to quash charges as the judge said the applicants failed to
supply relevant material before the court to warrant the quashing of
the case against them. He also said that so far, based on the proof of
evidence before the court, the prosecution has presented his case in
such a way that a prima-facie has been established against them.
While the public has been warned to stay away from the aforementioned
properties and other properties belonging to other accused being
investigated by the EFCC, trial in the substantive case of Dangabar and
others who were arraigned on May 28, 2012, comes up on January 28, 2013.
Wilson Uwujaren
Ag. Head, Media and Publicity
17th December, 2012
The
last has definitely not been heard of the pension scam that recently
hit the country as the Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT),
Dr. Abdulrasheed Maina, during an interview with journalists yesterday
in Abuja, disclosed that it had found another N20 billion stolen pension
funds. Maina said the funds were hidden in some dormant accounts in
some banks. However, he said no reports have been made to the
authorities concerned because investigations were still ongoing.
