Formal trial of former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva, for an alleged N6.5 billion theft while in government begins on September 19, 2012, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said.The former governor was arraigned on June 5, 2012 and granted bail the next day.Apart from being free on bail, the former governor also secured an order of the court, allowing him to travel abroad for medical attention.The commencement date for the trial is contained in a notice made available by the commission on its cause list for September.EFCC had in a six-count charge filed on February 24, alleged that the erstwhile governor pilfered about N6.5 billion from the Bayelsa State treasury while he was in power.It claimed that the said fraud was perpetrated between October 2009 and February 2010.EFCC alleged that the accused looted public funds under false pretence of using the monies to augment salaries, just as it identified three persons whose bank accounts were allegedly used as conduit pipe for the transfer of the alleged illicit funds.Also, the trial of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, who was charged by the anti-corruption commission with an alleged N894 million contract scam, has been listed for four consecutive days, starting from September 24- 27, 2012.A 16-count charge was proffered against him.The marathon hearing is expected to herald the end of the trial.During one of the proceedings before the court went on vacation, a prosecution witness, ASP Ibrahim Ahmed had told the Federal High Court presided over by Justice Donatus Okorowa that companies awarded the controversial contracts by Bankole for the supply of office equipments and electronics, could not be located for verification.Ahmed further claimed that all efforts to trace the companies based on addresses obtained from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) proved abortive.He added that the letters of invitations written to the managing directors of the said companies and given to EFCC's dispatch unit were returned after three weeks, when the addresses could not be traced.The on-going trial of a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir el-Rufai for alleged N3.2 billion fraud and illegal conversion of land, is also to run for two consecutive days, 25th and 26th September, 2012, which may also draw the curtains on the matter.The six count charge against Sylva included: "That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, sometime between October, 2009 and February, 2010, at various places in Nigeria, including Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court did conspire to commit a crime to wit: conversion of properties and resources amounting to N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira) belonging to Bayelsa State Government and derived from an illegal act, with the aim of concealing the illicit origin of the said amount and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 17(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act), 2004 and punishable under Section 14(1) of the same Act."That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, on or about the 22nd of January, 2010, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, converted the sum of N380,000,000.00 (Three Hundred and Eighty Million Naira), property of the Bayelsa State Government, through the account of one Habibu Sani Maigidia, a Bureau De Change Operator with Account No. 221433478108, in Fin Bank, Plc, which sum you knew represented the proceeds of an illegal act with the aim of concealing the nature of the proceeds of the said illegal act and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act) 2004 and also punishable under section 14(1) of the same Act."That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, on or about the 5th of February, 2010, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, converted the sum of N50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira), property of the Bayelsa State Government, through the account of one Enson Benmer Limited with Account No. 6152030001946, in First Bank, Plc, which sum you knew represented the proceeds of an illegal act with the aim of concealing the nature of the proceeds of the said illegal act and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act) 2004 and also punishable under section 14(1) of the same Act."That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, on or about the 5th of February, 2010, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, converted the sum of N20,000,000.00 (Twenty Million Naira), property of the Bayelsa State Government, through the account of one John Daukoru with Account No. 04800250000418, in United Bank for Africa, Plc, which sum you knew represented the proceeds of an illegal act with the aim of concealing the nature of the proceeds of the said illegal act and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act) 2004 and also punishable under section 14(1) of the same Act."That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, sometime between October, 2009 and February, 2010, at various places in Nigeria, including Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court did conspire to commit a crime to wit: inducing Union Bank, Plc, with the intent to defraud, to deliver to Bayelsa State Government the sum of N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira), under the false pretence of using the amount to augment salaries of the Bayelsa State Government and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(a) and punishable under section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2004."That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, sometime between October, 2009 and February, 2010, at various places in Nigeria, including Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court induced Union Bank, Plc, with the intent to defraud, to grant an overdraft facility of the sum of N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira) to the Bayelsa State Government under the false pretence of using the amount to augment salaries of the Bayelsa State Government and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2004 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act."
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