MISSING JAMB N35M: Witness tells court how woman, coordinator diverted sales proceeds for personal use

The hearing of the case involving Samuel Saleh Umoru and Philomena Chieshe, who were formerly Zonal coordinator and Revenue officer of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), respectively, resumed on Tuesday.

At the resumption of the matter, which is before the FCT High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, Stanley Ani, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told the court that Umoru, at various times instructed Chieshe to pay some monies into his bank account as a loan.

Umoru and Chieshe are both standing trial before Justice Peter Affen for allegedly diverting the sum of thirty five million, four hundred and eighty thousand Naira (N35,480,000.00) only.

In his examination-in-chief led by Ekele Iheanacho, Ani, who led the team of investigators in the case, told the court that the second defendant, Chieshe, said in her volunteered confession statement that her coordinator, Umoru who is the first defendant had instructed her at various times to pay in some amount of monies into his personal account.

“Chieshe submitted copies of tellers showing where she deposited monies into Umoru’s (first defendant) account on his instruction and other documents showing collection of ‘I O U’ by the first defendant from the proceeds of sales of e-facility cards”, the witness revealed.

He further told the court that an extraction of details were done on the two bank accounts statements of Chieshe and it was discovered that out of the total twenty nine million, thirty four thousand, two hundred and fifty three Naira, seventy two kobo (N29,034,253.72) inflow that her Zenith Bank account received between January 2014 and February 2017, only two million, ninety four thousand, four hundred and thirty three Naira, seventy two kobo (N2,094,433.72) were legitimate earnings that came in from JAMB in terms of salary, allowances and dividends from the cooperative society.

Ani then said a total of twenty six million, nine hundred and thirty nine thousand, eight hundred and twenty Naira (N26,939,820.00) were paid into the account by agents contracted by Chieshe to sell e-facility cards on her behalf.

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While also giving the analysis of the second defendant’s EcoBank account statement, the witness said a total inflow of one million, seven hundred and sixty eight thousand, four hundred and eighty Naira (N1,768,480.00) were paid into the account by various agents who sold the JAMB e-facility cards on her behalf. He further revealed that there were no transfer made to Jamb’s revenue account as remittance, instead almost all the monies were withdrawn through ATM.

Justice Affen adjourned the matter to June 1, 2020 for continuation of trial.

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