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Adoke Used $2.2m To Pay Up Accumulated Loan From Bank-Witness Reveals

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Breaking: Court Grants Adoke N50m Bail Over '$1.2b Malabu Oil Fraud'
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The trial of Mohammed Adoke, the former Attorney-General of the Federation has kick started  with a fresh revelation that $2.2 million was used to pay up loans  for repayment of N300 million which he obtained from the bank.

Former Acting Managing Director of the bank, Rislanudeen Mohammed made the confirmation at the federal high court in Abuja during the ongoing trial of Adoke and an oil magnate Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar on alleged corruption charges.

Testifying on Thursday, Muhammed who was led in evidence by the EFCC’s lawyer, Bala Sanga, said he collected the total sum of $2,267,400 from Adoke as repayment of the N300m loan granted the former minister by Unity Bank.

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He said that the loan was finally liquidated when Adoke handed over to him a sum of $2.2 million and that when converted to naira, it exceeded the principal loan amount.

The EFCC witness further disclosed that the former AGF collected the balance and closed the account after the bank deducted all necessary interest regarding the transaction. Under cross-examination by Adoke’s lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), the witness admitted accepting $2.2 million on behalf of the bank to liquidate the loan.

He further stated that the $2.2 million was not a proceed of crime because it was in repayment of a loan Adoke obtained from the bank.

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“I received the money as an agent of the bank. The money is not available to be confiscated because it is not a proceed of crime. “I have no reason to believe it is a proceed of crime. The money is not in Adoke’s account because it belongs to the bank”, he said.

The witness further told the court that collecting the money from Adoke’s house did not in any way constitute an offence because he acted as an agent of the bank.

Testifying further, the witness said upon the full payment of the loan, the title deed used as security by the bank was released by the bank to the second defendant as an indication that the loan has been fully defrayed.

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Earlier, the first prosecution witness, a Manager in charge of foreign exchange trade at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Clement Osagie, tendered foreign exchange transaction rates covering August, September and October 2013 and was admitted as exhibits.

Under cross-examination by Olalekan Ojo (SAN), lawyer to the second defendant, the witness who stated that the documents tendered were generated from the electronic system of the CBN, said he was not personnel of the Information Technology (IT) department of the CBN.