The FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, heard on Monday that a total of about N1.8 billion belonging to Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State was transferred into the bank account of a company run by a government official during former Governor Darius Ishaku’s administration.
The official, Taiwo Jones, who is an assistant cashier in the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs of Taraba State, told the court that his company received the funds in tranches at various times on the instructions of the then-Permanent Secretary of the bureau, Bello Yero.
He said he disbursed the money based on Mr Yero’s instructions and sometimes handed some of the funds in cash directly to Mr Yero.
According to Mr Jones, who appeared before the court as the third prosecution witness, he sometimes drove Mr Yero to the Government House, the governor’s official residence, to deliver the cash received from him.
Mr Yero and former Governor Ishaku are jointly standing trial before the court on charges of diverting about N27 billion belonging to the state government and some local governments in the state for personal use.
