A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Mr Julius Sunday Babalola, has said former Secretary to the Government of the Federation(SGF) knew nothing about the N544M contract criminal charges preferred against him.
The former SGF is answering to a 10-count charge the EFCC entered against him.
However, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At the resumption of the trial yesterday, an EFCC witness informed the Federal Capital Territory High Court, that the Minister in charge and the Tenders Board for the Presidential Initiative for North-East were solely responsible for the award of the contract.
The witness told Justice Charles Agbasa, that Babachir Lawal was not a member of the tenders board and did not participate in any stage of award for the jobs.
He also clarified that 18 contracts were actually awarded under emergency procurement procedure, contrary to two as alleged by the prosecution agency.
He, however, said that he was not aware of the prosecution of 16 others except the two where the younger brother of the former SGF was alleged to have interest.
The PW4, who is the Head of the procurement department in the office of the SGG insisted that diligent and due process were followed by the Tenders Board members for the selection of the contractors.
The witness, who served in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as the Head of the Procurement Department, narrated in the court that the former SGF never participated in the activities of the Presidential Initiative for the North East, (Pine) and the Ministerial Tenders Board under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
Under cross-examination by counsel to Babachir Lawal, Chief Akin Olujimi SAN, the witness admitted that he authored all the memos that led to the award of the contracts.
He said that the contracts were awarded by the Ministerial Tenders Board with due respect to the Emergency Procurement Act 2007.
Further in his testimonial, the witness submitted that the contracts were awarded without fear or favour to anybody.
“To the best of my knowledge, I carried out all my duties pertaining to these contracts under the emergency procurement Act 2007, properly,” he said.
Babalola further told the court that he did not know Hamidu Lawal (Second defendant), and the fifth and sixth defendants, Rholavision Engineering and Josmon Technologies.
“I did not discuss, meet or plan with any of the defendants, because I do not know them and I have never seen them,” he stated.
He confirmed to the court that a total of 18 contracts were awarded for the removal of evasive weeds, but only two were charged to court (Rholavision Engineering and Josmon Technologies), leaving out 16 other companies that got the contracts.
Meantime, the matter is adjourned to 3, and 10 November 2021 for the continuation of the trial.