Alleged Fraud: EFCC Arrests Former Taraba Governor, Darius Ishaku
Darius Ishaku, former Taraba State Governor, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).
Ishaku, who was the governor of Taraba State between 2015 and 2023, was arrested over alleged N27bn fraud.
A top source in the commission who confided in our correspondent stated that Ishaku would be arraigned on 15 charges.
“Former Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku is currently in our custody. He is being investigated for N27b fraud. He would be arraigned on 15 charges,” the source said.
In a copy of the charge sheet dated September 27, obtained on Friday, the former governor and the former Permanent Secretary of Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bello Yero, are listed as defendants.
In the suit marked CR/792/24, filed before a Federal Capital Territory High Court, the EFCC accused the defendants of diverting the sum of N1,010,000,000 to their personal use between August 25, 2015, and March 21, 2016, in Abuja.
The agency said the amount formed part of the 2.5 percent contingency funds belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
The EFCC noted that the duo committed an offense contrary to Section 315 of the Penal Code A, Cap 532, Laws of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria 2007, and punishable under the same section.
Ishaku and Yero were also accused of diverting an aggregate sum of N1,138,082, 097.71 which formed part of the 2.5 percent contingency fund belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs between July 2015 and May 2019.
Also, between September 3, 2015, and January 29, 2018, in Abuja, the defendants were accused of diverting the sum of N761,301,000 to defray the loan of N1bn granted by Zenith Bank Plc. to your company, Worthy Construction Limited.
“That you Ishaku whilst being the Governor of Taraba State and Bello Yero whilst being the Permanent Secretary, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Taraba State between July 19, 2019, and February 5, 2021, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, and in such capacity entrusted with dominion over certain property, to wit: an aggregate sum of N3,348,942,411.15, which sum formed part of the funds belonging to Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Taraba State and Local Government Councils in Taraba State, and you thereby committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property, when you dishonestly diverted the said sum to your use,” the charge sheet partly read.
Other sums that allegedly formed part of the contingency fund diverted by the defendants include N650,686,369.99 between January 6, 2019, and April 29, 2021; N193,030,000 between January 2019, and April 29, 2021; and N170,549,842.00 between January 6, 2019, and April 29, 2021, among others.
