₦33.8bn Fraud: Mamman Spent ₦20m Lodging In A Resort - Witness

Saleh Mamman

Saleh Mamman, a former Minister of Power, has been accused of spending ₦20 million to lodge in a resort for a year.

This was disclosed during cross-examination by the third prosecution witness, Colonel Adebisi Adesanya (rtd), on Wednesday, in a Federal High Court, Abuja, presided over by Justice James Omotosho.

The cross-examination followed the testimony of the witness on Tuesday, November 26, in which he disclosed that the former minister spent the sum of ₦20 million from the fund earmarked for Mambilla Hydro Power project on payment for lodging in a resort over a period of one year.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Mamman on a 12-count charge bordering on an alleged conspiracy to commit money laundering to the tune of ₦33,804,830,503.73 (Thirty-three Billion, Eight Hundred and Four Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty Thousand, Five Hundred and Three Naira, Seventy-three Kobo).

The witness, the Chief Security Officer and owner of Sami Court Resort Limited, where Mamman allegedly paid for a one-year lodging to the tune of ₦20 million, disclosed while being led in evidence on Tuesday by prosecution counsel, A.O. Mohammed that “Sami Court Resort Limited is a service apartment where people come to lodge and stay for a long time, one month, two months, a year,” adding that “You only book in with your clothes, then any other thing is serviced by the apartment“.

He also revealed that he was invited for questioning by the EFCC on September 6, 2023 regarding inflows from accommodation and lodging into the United Bank for Africa, (UBA) account of the resort over the period spanning from 2019 to 2021 and identified Exhibit PWC as the invoice issued to Mamman by the resort after his payment of ₦20 million for lodging, covering the period between August 30, 2021 and August 30, 2022.

“This is our company’s invoice. We issued it after the payment of N20 million with respect to lodging and accommodation for Engineer Saleh Mamman,” he said.

Giving a breakdown of the lodging inflows from Mamman as contained in “Exhibit PWC,” he explained that “On September 6, 2021, the inflow was N5million, deposited by Golden Bond Nigeria Limited for the period covering 30th August 2021 to 30th August 2022 and the name of the lodger is Engineer Saleh Mamman.

“The second column is on January 23, 2022, being ₦5 million payment deposited by Mintedge Nigeria Limited to cover from 30th August 2021 to 30th August 2022.

“The third column is March 9, 2022, and the amount is ₦2, 500, 000 (Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira), payment by Abdullahi Suleiman and it is to cover the period of 30th August 2021 to 30th August, 2022 for Engineer Saleh Mamman.

“And the last one is on May 10, 2022, and the amount is ₦7, 500,000 (Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira), deposited by A.I.J Global Tools Limited over the period covering 30th August 2021 to 30th August 2022 and the name of the lodger is Engineer Saleh Mamman,” he stated.

The witness further alleged that the payments by Mamman were just for one-bedroom rental, all made through the resort’s UBA account.

“The documents are our invoice in respect to payment for one-bedroom rental from 30th August 2019 and 30th August 2020 and the amount is ₦20 million,” he added.

Justice Omotosho afterwards adjourned the case till 13 January 2025 for a continuation of trial.