Fresh court documents have revealed how former Bauchi State Accountant-General, Dr Sa’idu Abubakar, allegedly obtained billions of naira in loans using forged government approvals and diverted the funds through non-existent motorcycle supply contracts without the approval of Governor Bala Mohammed or the State Executive Council.
The details are contained in a 16-count amended charge filed before the Bauchi State High Court by the state government, accusing the former Accountant-General of fraud, forgery, deception, criminal breach of trust, abuse of office and diversion of public funds estimated at about N40 billion.
According to the prosecution, Mr Abubakar used forged State Executive Council resolutions, House of Assembly resolutions and Irrevocable Standing Payment Orders, ISPOs, to obtain loans from United Bank for Africa, UBA, Plc and Polaris Bank Plc on behalf of the Bauchi State Government.
The charge alleged that the approvals that were presented to the banks were never authorised by Governor Bala Mohammed or the State Executive Council.
Prosecutors further claimed that the former Accountant-General deceived both the Clerk of the Bauchi State House of Assembly and the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government by falsely representing that the governor and the Executive Council had approved the loan facilities.
According to the court filings, the alleged deception led to the issuance of resolutions by the State Executive Council and the House of Assembly that were subsequently used to process the loans.
