Nigeria's ex-defence chief raided staff salary funds
Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's former chief of defence staff bought
property including a $5.5 million mansion with air force money, passing off his
fraudulent withdrawals as staff salaries, a court heard Wednesday. Retired air chief marshal Alex Badeh is on trial at a
federal high court in Abuja, accused of diverting 3.97 billion naira ($19.8
million, 18 million euros) for his own use.
The 59-year-old, arrested as part of a wide-ranging
anti-corruption campaign by President Muhammadu Buhari, denies 10 counts of
fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.
The finance director under Badeh when he was chief of air
staff at the time of the alleged offences in 2013 said he exchanged 558.2
million naira for dollars every month on his boss' instructions.
The money was part of some four billion naira set aside for
monthly salaries for air force personnel, retired air commodore Salisu
Abdullahi Yushau told the court in evidence.
The withdrawals were accounted for "as salaries because
the disbursement was done along with salaries", he said.
Yushau, who retired in December 2013, said he bought
properties with the money for Badeh and his son, including a mansion in the
upmarket Maitama district of Abuja worth 1.1 billion naira.
Former president Goodluck Jonathan appointed Badeh chief of
defence staff in January 2014 at a time of growing dissatisfaction at the
military's handling of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Badeh vowed a swift end to the conflict but his time in
office saw the Islamist militants run riot in three northeast states, seizing
swathes of territory.
Nigerian troops seemed unable -- and were often unwilling --
to fight back, with complaints about a lack of weapons and even bullets
compared to the better armed militants.
On Badeh's watch, Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 girls
from their school in Chibok, in Borno state, northeast Nigeria.
Former national security advisor Sambo Dasuki is currently
facing a separate trial over his alleged diversion of billions of dollars in
weapons procurement cash using fictitious defence contracts.
Trial judge Okon Abang adjourned Badeh's case and remanded
him in custody until March 23 to allow the defence time to prepare cross-examination.
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