By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Dele Belgore, on Monday opened his defence by denying the allegation that he laundered the sum of N450million in 2015.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting him along with former Minister of National Planning Prof. Abubakar Suleiman before Justice Rilwan Aikawa of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, Nigeria.
They were alleged to be beneficiary of N450million out of the sum of $115.01million, which a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, allegedly doled out to influence the 2015 general elections.
According to the EFCC, Dele Belgore and Prof Abubakar Suleiman, went to a branch of Fidelity Bank in Ilorin on March 26, 2015 to sign for and collect the said N450million cash.
However, while testifying in his defence on Monday led by his counsel, Mr Ebun Shofunde, Belgore admitted being invited by the bank manager on March 26, 2015 to take delivery of the N450 million cash, but said he ended up leaving the bank without the money.
The Silk Lawyer, who said he was the Kwara State Co-ordinator of then President Goodluck Jonathan re-election campaign, told the court that he did not collect the N450million because on getting to the bank he realised that the money was too huge for his Toyota Prado jeep.
Belgore said: “I indicated to PW1 (bank manager) that I could not collect the money and I gave two reasons.”
First, I said this money was coming two days before the election; all the stakeholders and party members were aware of the arrival of the money and therefore, I did not consider it safe to move such a huge amount of money out of the bank in the middle of the night.
“The second reason was that I did not come prepared to receive and take away such a large amount of money, as I came only in my vehicle, a Toyota Prado jeep.
“As I said earlier, the heap of cash that I saw in the bank’s loading bay was at least three to four feet high. So, I told PW1 that if it took a bullion van to transport the cash from the Central Bank of Nigeria to Fidelity Bank, there was no way I would be able to evacuate those funds with my Toyota Prado”.
He further told the court that following a long argument between him, Suleiman and the bank manager, the bank manager told them to sign for the money and agreed to keep the money in the bank’s vault.
“After signing the document, I left the bank without the money. I did not take a penny out of the bank; I left the bank empty-handed,” he said.
At this point, Justice Aikawa adjourned further proceedings till February 28, 2019, at the instance of Belgore’s counsel, Shofunde, who said he needed time to preview the CCTV footage of the events that took place within the banking hall on March 26, 2015 when Belgore and Suleiman visited.
In the charges against them, the EFCC alleged that Belgore and Suleiman received N450million from Diezani and laundered same.
The anti-graft agency said they ought to have “reasonably known” that the N450million was part of proceeds of unlawful activities, adding that they handled the money without going through any financial institution, contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.
However, the two defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail.
