Guardian
November 29, 2005

Govt files charges against Alamieyeseigha at conduct bureau
FROM the court of public opinion, the Federal Government has moved its campaign for a check on the constitutional immunity conferred on a class of public officials to a formal tribunal.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo, will on Thursday, December 1 file charges against Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha at the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal sitting in Kaduna.
The trial will put to test section 308 of the 1999 Constitution which confers immunity on the president, the vice president, governors and their deputies, while their terms of office last.
In the proceeding, the Federal Republic of Nigeria is cited as complainant while the Bayelsa State governor is the accused.
In the 19-count charge, Alamieyeseigha is accused of "false declaration, maintenance and operation of foreign bank accounts, abuse of office, etc contrary to the code of conduct for public officers part 1 of the fifth schedule of the 1999 Constitution."
The charges include:
That you Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between 1999 and September 2005 maintained and operated a foreign personal bank account number 10659347 with Barclays Bank Plc, United Kingdom with a balance of GBP 208 753.34 contrary to section 7 and punishable under section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. Cap56LFN 1990
That you Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State from May 1999 to date and presently maintaining and operating a foreign personal bank account number 3239940 with UBS Warburg AG, 1 Curzon Street, London, W1J 6HB with a balance of $2.5 million contrary to section 7 and punishable under section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act Cap 56 LFN 1990.
That you Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State from May 1999 to date and presently maintaining and operating a foreign personal bank account number 338931 in the name of FALCON INC as your nominee or agent with UBS Warburg AG, 1 Curzon Street, London, W1J 5HB contrary to section 7 and punishable under section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. Cap 56 LFN 1990.
That you Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State from May 1999 to date and presently maintaining and operating foreign bank account numbers 7341553/7341596 for US Dollars and 7341588 for GB Pounds Sterling and 7341561 and 7341618 for EURO with Barclays Bank Plc at International Banking Unit. 88 Dighemis Akritas Avenue 1644, Nicosia, Cyprus contrary to section 7 and punishable under section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. Cap 56 LFN 1990
That you Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State from May 1999 to date and presently maintaining and operating foreign bank account number 5005220454-7 in Denmark with JYSKE Bank at Bseterbrogate 9, DK-1780. Copenhagen V with a balance of £500,000 as at November 17, 2005 contrary to section 7 and punishable under section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. Cap 56.LFN 1990.
That you Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State from May 1999 to date and presently maintaining and operating foreign bank account number 0054 8266 2491 with Bank of America United States of America in the name of Peter Alamieyeseigha with a balance of $160, 000.00 contrary to section 7 and punishable under section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. Cap 56 LFN 1990.
That you Chief D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State on or about 5th December 2003 failed to declare your asset known as Water Gardens, London W2 2DG bought at £1.75 million in the name of a nominee, Solomon & Peters Ltd and which is not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15 (2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap. 56 LFN 1990 as incorporated under Paragraph II, Part 1, Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between April and December 2003 failed to declare property at 14 Mapasbury Road, London, NW2 4JB, bought at £1.4 million pounds Sterling which is not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15(2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap. Cap. 56 LFN 1990 as incorporated under Paragraph II, Part I, Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between April and December 2003 failed to declare the property at 14 Jubilee Heights, Shoot Uphill, London, NW2 2UQ bought at £241,000.00 million Pounds Sterling which is not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15(2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap. 56 LFN 1990.
That you Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between April and December 2003 failed to declare the property at No. 68-70 Regent's Road, London N3 bought at £3 million Pounds Sterling which is not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15 (2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap. 55 LFN-1990 as incorporated under Paragraph II Part I, Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between April 2003 and September 2005 the property known as Chelsea Hotel Abuja at the cost of N2 billion for which N1.5 billion has been paid which is not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15 (3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap. 56 LFN 1990 as incorporated under Paragraph II, Part, I, Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between April 2003 and September 2005 acquired two block of luxury flats at Plot 26 Bashir Dalhatu Close, Abacha Estate, Ikoyi worth N450 million which is not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15(3) of the code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap. 56 LFN 1990 as incorporated under Paragraph II, Part I, Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between April 2003 and September 2005 acquired a property at John Kadiya Street, off Jose Marti Crescent, Asokoro, Abuja worth N350 million and which is not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15(3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap. 56 LFN 1990 as incorporated under Paragraph II, Part I, Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That the Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between April 2003 and September 2005 acquired an Estate of six luxury duplexes at No. 1 Community, Road, off Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos worth N200 million and which is not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15 (3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Cap. 567 LFN 1990 as incorporated under Paragraph II Part I Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between April 2003 and September 2006 failed to declare One Billion Naira worth of shares acquired in Bond Bank and which is not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15 (3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act Cap 66 LFN 1990 as incorporated under Paragraph 11, Part 1, fifth schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State between April 2000 and September 2005 failed to declare the following properties acquired by you.
Plot 916 & 917, Wuse 11 District Abuja
Plot 7, Cadastral Zone A6, Maitama Abuja
Plot 1267, Amazon Road, Abuja
Plot 3375, Cadastral Zone A6, Abuja
Plot 1372-1374 Cadastral Zone A7, Wuse II, Abuja
Plot 1281, Cadastral Zone A4, Asokoro, Abuja.
which are not fairly attributable to your income and thereby committed a breach of section 15 (3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act Cap. 58 LFN 1990 as incorporated under Paragraph II Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State on or about March 2002 being a Public Officer asked for and accepted for yourself the sum of GBF 475,724.08 Pounds Sterling transferred from HSBC Bank account to your nomineee Nedd & Co., Solicitors on account of contracts jobs in Bayelsa State awarded to A Group Properties Limited and thereby committed a breach of section 10 (1) of the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act Cap 56 GFN 1980 and punishable as incorporated under Paragraph II, Part 1, Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State on or about March 2002 being a Public Officer asked for and accepted for yourself the sum of GBP 420,000.00 Pounds Sterling transferred from Midland Bank account to your nominee, Nedd & Co. Solicitors on account of contracts jobs awarded to a company and thereby committed a breach of section 10 (1) of the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act, Cap. 56, LFN 1990 and punishable as incorporated under Paragraph II Part 1 fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
That you Chief D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha being the Governor of Bayelsa State on or about March 2002 being a Public Officer asked for and accepted for yourself the sum of GBP 409,761.24 Pounds Sterling transferred by Consort Engineering Nig. Limited into a nominee account with EBCO and thereby committed a breach of section 10 (1) of the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act, Cap 58 LPN 1990 and punishable as incorporated under Paragraph II, Part 1, Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and punishable under section 23 of the Act.
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Alamieyeseigha in fresh trouble Over N1.7b fraud

Alamieyeseigha
A Federal High Court in Abuja has okayed the probe of the embattled Bayelsa State governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) over an allegation that he stole N1.7 billion from the state coffers using eight fictitious companies. The presiding judge, Justice Anwuli Chiekere, also held that section 62(1) of the ICPC Act empowers the commission to refer the governor’s case to the Chief Justice of Nigeria for independent investigation.
The judge rejected the application by five of the alleged fake companies to stop the commission from investigating the alleged non-existent contracts the governor reportedly awarded the equally non-existent companies. The commission, in investigating the governor and the N1.7 billion alleged contract, according to the judge, was performing its statutory function which no court could stop it from doing.
In the judgement delivered on Friday, the court stated that it could not nullify the entire investigation exercise, despite what it called the obvious unfair hearing meted out to the applicants during the investigation. The court also turned down the relief sought by the companies that the commission be restrained from going ahead with the exercise.
The judge held that she could not grant an interlocutory injunction against ICPC. In a report filed by two of its investigating officers, Messrs. Oladayo Kehinde and A. Abdulsalam, the commission alleged that the Bayelsa State governor stole N1.7 billion through the award of fake contracts to eight fake companies. The indicted alleged ghost companies included ADM Investments Limited, Multi Web Nig. Ltd, Graceland International Ltd, Brits Investments Ltd, Vinny Investments Ltd, Juwiz Nigeria Ltd., Marsh Nigeria Ltd and Niger Delta Wetland Centre.

The commission claimed that the Bayelsa State Tenders Board awarded contracts to fake companies to the tune of N667,258,865 million, without due process. The alleged theft of the N1.7 billion by the governor was reportedly through the construction of the Niger Delta University (NDU), where the state government allegedly claimed that it cut grass on the site with N145 million.
Based on these reported findings, the commission applied to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, to set up an independent panel to investigate the allegations in accordance with the Commission’s Act.


Tribune.