Ex-governor Ishaku in EFCC custody, set for arraignment over alleged N27bn fraud
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is set to arraign a former governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku, over alleged N27bn fraud.
Ishaku will be arraigned on 15 charges at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in the suit marked CR/792/24, according to PUNCH.
A source in the anti-graft agency confirmed to the newspaper that Ishaku was in the EFCC’s custody.
“Former Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku is currently in our custody,” said the source.
The former governor will be arraigned alongside a former Permanent Secretary of Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bello Yero, the charge sheet dated September 27 revealed.
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The EFCC accuses the defendants of diverting the sum of N1,010,000,000 to their personal use between August 25, 2015, and March 21, 2016, in Abuja.
The agency said the amount formed part of the 2.5 per cent contingency funds belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
The defendants are also accused of diverting an aggregate sum of N1,138,082, 097.71 which formed part of the 2.5 per cent contingency fund belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs between July 2015 and May 2019.
They are accused of diverting the sum of N761,301,000 between September 3, 2015, and January 29, 2018, in Abuja to defray the loan of N1bn granted by Zenith Bank Plc to a company, Worthy Construction Limited.
Other sums that allegedly formed part of the contingency fund diverted by the defendants include N650,686,369.99 between January 6, 2019, and April 29, 2021; N193,030,000 between January 2019 and April 29, 2021; and N170,549,842.00 between January 6, 2019, and April 29, 2021, among others.