Kalu denies N7.2bn money laundering allegation
A former Abia state Governor, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu on Tuesday before a Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos denied allegations that he stole N7.2 billion while he governed the state between 1999 and 2007.
Sen. Kalu made the denial yesterday while continuing his testimony before Justice Mohammed Idris, to prove his innocence of the allegations levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The erstwhile governor while responding to a question from his lawyer, Prof. Awa Kalu (SAN), disclosed that there is no way he could have stolen what was non-existent.
“Abia state doesn’t have such amount. Even the day I was leaving, we borrowed money to pay salaries. Abia state doesn’t have even a billion naira in any account at the time I was governor,” he said.
The former governor who is currently the chief whip of the Senate also spoke about the difficulties he encountered in running the state with allocations from the federal government.
He said: “The monthly allocation of Abia state when I took over in June 1999 was N168 million. It was averaging between N168 million and N172 million monthly. The first month that I came in, there was even no money to buy diesel. I spent my own money to run the state for six months.
“In the year 2000, monthly allocation was between N170 million and N189 million. In 2001, it came to about N302 million to about N380 million. I can recollect in 2002, it was almost the same and in 2003 when the revenue allocation was changed, we were having about N400 million.
“The highest money I got as governor came from 2004 when we have about N1 billion and from that time up till May 2007 before I left, what we had was N1.6 billion.”
Sen. Kalu had earlier in his evidence told the court that he has been a successful businessman before venturing into politics, disclosing that he also deals in buying and selling of property.
According to him, he made his statements to the EFCC under duress after being severely assaulted by the commission’s agents.
Further hearing in the matter continues on today.
