Suswam is standing trial alongside his finance commissioner, Mr Omadachi Oklobia, for allegedly diverting the proceeds of the sale of shares owned by the state government and Benue Investment and Property Company Limited, totalling into N3.1 billion.
The witness, who is the fourth called by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), prosecuting on behalf of the Federal Government, said this while he was being led in examination-in-chief by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs.
Umar, a Bureau de Change operator, said Suswam authorised the payment of several sums of money into his bank account between August and October in 2014, which were all converted into United States dollars and handed over to him.
Giving vivid details of how the funds were paid into his bank account in five tranches, Abubakar disclosed that “in August 2014, Governor Suswam called me to his Maitama home in Abuja and asked me to give a fair lady my bank account details.
“Thereafter, the sum of N413 million was paid into my account. On September 12, 2014, two payments were made into my account: N360 and N637 million (N1 billion) respectively.
“On October 13, 2014, N630 million was deposited into my account. Two hours later, N18 million was also deposited in the account. Then on October 17, 2014, the sum of N1.68 billion was paid into my account, which I equally converted into US dollars as requested by Suswam.”
The witness, trading under the name Fanfash Resources Ltd, however, gave contradictory accounts of where the converted funds were handed over to Suswam.
Umar, while testifying on Thursday, said he delivered the converted monies to the former governor at his Maitama residence in Abuja, only to turn around and said he gave the money to the former governor at the Benue State Government House in Makurdi.
Trouble, however, started for the prosecution when the witness, who had earlier in his statement to the EFCC admitted that the $15.8 million dollars was taken to the residence of the former governor in Maitama, Abuja, suddenly said the total sum, in hard currency was handed over to Suswam at the Government House in Makurdi.
In a bid to save the trial from being messed up by the witness due to the contradictions, Jacobs applied to the trial judge, Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed, to cut the trial short and grant him adjournment to enable him to put his house in order.
However, counsel for Suswan, Mr Joseph Daudu, opposed the application for an adjournment, adding that in law, what the prosecution ought to do was to treat the witness as a hostile witness.
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