Dele BelgoreDele Belgore, a Senior Advocate Of Nigerian (SAN), who is currently being prosecuted for allegedly laundering N450m in the build-up to the 2015 general election has disclosed how he spent part of the money.
He made the disclosure on Monday at the Federal High Court in Lagos during cross-examination by Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, the prosecuting counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Belgore told the court that he gave N10m out of the money to the then Commissioner of Police in Kwara State, whose name he simply gave as Garba.
Belgore is being prosecuted alongside Prof Abubakar Suleiman, a former Minister of National Planning.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission claimed that they collected N450m out of the $115.01m, which a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, allegedly doled out to manipulate the 2015 presidential election.
Belgore and Suleiman were accused of handling the money without going through any financial institution, contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.
But the two defendants have denied the allegations.
They maintained that though they were invited on March 26, 2015 – two days to the 2015 presidential election – by the manager of a Fidelity Bank branch in Ilorin to collect the N450m, they ended up not leaving the bank premises with the money despite that they signed for its collection.
Belgore also maintained that he had never met Diezani, adding that the N450m that he and Suleiman signed for came from the headquarters of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation in Abuja.
Justice Rilwan Aikawa adjourned till May 15 for the continuation of cross-examination.
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