According to a prosecution witness who is a former Director of Finance and Account of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Aliyu Yishau (retd.), against Badeh, had informed the court that while Badeh was the Chief of Air Staff, he routinely helped Badeh to divert the sum of N558.2m by converting it to its dollar equivalent.
He said he personally helped Badeh to buy the N1.1bn property which has now been converted to Federal Government’s use.
He had said, “Sometime in January 2013, when I was taking the normal amount to him (Badeh) in dollars, he directed that we should pay for the house. So, he brought out the balance in dollars and made up the equivalent of N1.1bn.”
According to a punchng reporter who approached one of the workers, he said, “The property was given to us by the government to work. I know that the EFCC seized the property some months ago but it was given to us to work.”
The EFCC lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), had told the court that the EFCC searched the property and recovered $1m in cash.
Jacobs said although Badeh had denied ownership of the property, his belongings, including photographs, were found in it during a search by the operatives of the commission.
Our correspondent learnt that the decision to convert Badeh’s property may be connected to the Federal Government’s plan to convert seized properties to government use and save cost.
It will be recalled that the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, had disclosed at the opening of a meeting with the members of the National Steering Committee of the Efficiency Unit on June 10, 2016, that the Muhammadu Buhari-led government was planning to convert some of the seized properties to offices in a bid to save money spent on rent.
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