Yusuf Pam, a former cashier of the Plateau government, says his statements indicting Jonah Jang, former governor of the state, were made to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under duress.
Pam made this claim on Tuesday while testifying under cross-examination at a Jos high court.
When asked if he truly admitted to being the that paid monies into Jang’s Zenith Bank account, he said: “that information was not true”.
“I never hid money for Governor Jang throughout his eight-year tenure. On January 16, 2017, l was threatened to either cooperate by writing whatever they asked me to write else I wouldn’t be given food or allowed to take my drugs because l am hypertensive and diabetic.
“At that point, l had to play along because they also threatened to dump me in their detention cell, where I spent the night the very first day l reported at the EFCC office, Abuja.
“When they later allowed me to go back to Jos, l was asked to report every two weeks for a year and four months.
“They later changed it to once a month and on two occasions, l escaped two ghastly motor accidents.
“My Lord, I was not answerable to the Governor directly. I never hid money for him when he was Governor because I was answerable to a Permanent Secretary, Cabinet and Special Services who is the Accounting Officer in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government.
“I tried to explain this to the EFCC official, Mr Sunday Musa, who interrogated and obtained my statements.
“During the interrogation, Musa gave me a slap and forced me to make statements the way he wanted it.
“My Lord, all the statements I made to the EFCC in writing was dictated to me.”
NAN reports that Pam and Jang are standing trial in a 12-count brought against them by the EFCC bordering on alleged N6.3 billion money laundering.
After listening to Pam’s testimonies, Daniel Longji, the presiding judge, adjourned the case to August 7 for the continuation of hearing.
