Alleged P&ID Scam: EFCC Witness Gives Transaction Details In Briton’s Account

Akinwande Akinseye, an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC’s witness, on Monday, gave details about series of
transactions in the bank account of James Nolan, the British
national and a director in the Process and Industrial Development,
P&ID, Nigeria Ltd.

Mr Akinseye spoke before Justice Okon Abang during
cross-examination in the ongoing trial of Nolan at the Federal High
Court, Abuja.

Mr Akinseye, who is the first prosecution witness (PW1),
admitted that he tendered Exhibit C which contained the statements
of account to the EFCC.

“There is a credit of N1 million from ICIL Limited on Aug. 16,
2006. It is a clearing deposit.

“It means the clearing cheque of N1m was paid into the account
of P&ID Nigeria Ltd from ICIL Ltd,,” he said.

Mr Akinseye, who is a commercial bank staff, said though he did
not know the nature of the transaction or the origin of the funds,
“I could only identify the entry as detailed in the account.”

He said the second entry on the account was a cash withdrawal of
N500, 000 as detailed in the account statement by Neil C. Hitchcock
which took place on Aug. 31, 2006.

He said Hitchcock is signatory to the account of P&ID
Nigeria Ltd.

“The next entry was the account maintenance charge applied on
the cash withdrawals of N500, 000. Its value is N2, 500.

The bank deducted the charge for itself. Although the bank takes
account maintenance charge but I am uncertain if the back takes the
entire charge.

“It is a charge and it is taxable,” he said.

According to him, when it is taxed, it is in form of a Value
Added Tax paid by the bank and the bank remits the tax.

“For the N500, 000 withdrawal, the VAT was N125 and the date of
transmission is 31st of August, 2006.

“The next entry on the statement of account is a transfer credit
of N13, 100, 000 from Trista Nigerian Limited, Abuja to P&ID
Nigeria Ltd on 6th of September, 2006,” he said.

Mr Akinseye, who said it was detailed transfers between
customers, said it must have emanated from his bank.

He explained that though “there is a limit to an information an
account statement can provide, transfers between accounts is
normally referred to as transfers between accounts domicile in the
bank.”

He said the information on the domicile bank of the sender of
the fund could be ascertained by the bank and could also be
ascertain from another means other than the statement.

“The next entry was a bank withdrawal of N1.5 million by Neil C.
Hitchcock on the 8th of September, 2006.

“The amount withdrawn from the account is a normal due process,”
he said.

The witness said the date of the next transaction was Sept. 8,
2006.

“It was a charge of N3, 500 being the cost of legal search
carried out on the account.

“The search was carried out to verify the directors and other
information as registered at C.A.C. against the the C.A.C. document
submitted to the bank for account opening,” he said.

He said while he was not managing the account at a time, “I can
establish that the information from the search report was in order
with the account opening document.”

He gave the next entry as a Telex charge of N1000 taken on Sept.
8, 2006.

According to him, the Telex charge denotes international
transfer of fund from the account.

“From the statement of the dollar account, the international
transfer of fund took place on Sept. 8, 2006,” he said.

Mr Akinseye gave the dollar account as 0023975564, the naira
account as 0023975557.

He said the account number: 0131467029.also belonged to the
P&ID Nigeria Limited.

“100 thousand dollars was transfer from out of account of
P&ID Nig Ltd,” he said, adding that the Telex charge of N1000
was deducted was deducted from the naira account based on the
agreement with the customer.

“The Telex charge of N1000 can be taken from the naira account
where the customers prefer it to be taken.

“The Telex charge goes straight to private company and could be
taken in any currency on the agreed amount.

“And it is in accordance with bank policy and did not contravene
any regulatory guideline,” he said.

Mr Akinseye, who stated that the transaction would not have been
carried out if the requests were not in line with the bank
processes, said “a bank can carried out transaction that may still
be reported as suspicious transactions.”

Justice Abang adjourned the case until Dec 17 for trial
continuation. NAN

FG launches E-record Management System

The Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National
Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, on Monday in Abuja, launched an
Electronic Records Management (ERM) platform for the tracking of
incoming and outgoing mails and letters from and to the
Ministry.
At the occasion, the Minister, represented by the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Mohanmmed Isa Dutse, noted that the
launch was in furtherance of the current administration’s
commitment to digitize all government’s platforms and the
Ministry’s commitment towards improving service delivery to the
citizenry.
The Minister stated that this commitment was underpinned by the
current administration’s desire to enhance efficiency and
effectiveness in service delivery, the promotion of inter-agency
synergy as well as the fight against corruption.
She stated that following the launch of e-government master plan by
government, key operations in public service such as the Treasury
Single Account (TSA), the newly launched Financial Transparency Web
Portal, the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System
(IPPIS) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) were now being
implemented and would help government to save cost and fight
corruption.
On the derivable benefits from the project, the Minister stated
that project would enhance tracking of incoming and outgoing
letters, enhance productivity, quality assurance, reduce turnaround
time and enhance efficiency in service delivery, while ensuring the
preservation and safety of the Ministry’s documents.
The Minister therefore solicited the cooperation and commitment of
staff of the Ministry towards the realization of the goals of the
project.

Speaking earlier , the Permanent Secretary Special Duties in the
Ministry, Dr. Mohammed K. Dikwa, stated that this noble initiative
is meant to address the lingering challenges of document management
in the service, adding that the notable challenges the initiative
is out to address include inability to track incoming and outgoing
mails, data preservation measure, long turn-around time for
processing mails, and no existing system for managing projects,
noting that the initiative came at the right time when the country
and the global economic outlook was increasingly being shaped by
digital processes.
He further disclosed that he was convinced that upon complete
deployment of the system, the Ministry, and by extension the nation
stood to benefit immensely in terms of enhanced productivity, cost
reduction of turn-around and time, business continuity and quality
assurance.
Mr. Dikwa, therefore congratulated the Ministry on breaking the
jinx in Federal Government’s manual processing of record keeping,
urging the staff of the Ministry who are project champions and end
users of the system to prepare well for effective implementation of
the all-important project if the benefits outlined above are to be
attained, adding that the Ministry should ensure seamless
implementation of the project so that the success of the document
management automation innovation will serve as benchmark for other
MDAs to emulate.

Hassan Dodo
D (Information)
December, 17th, 2019