A witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday informed the FCT High Court in Abuja, that former aviation minister, Hadi Sirika, awarded contracts to Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, a company not qualified to handle the repairs of Katsina Airport.
TheNewsGuru reports that Sirika, alongside his daughter, Fatima Hadi Sirika, son-in-law Jalal Sule Hamma, and Al Buraq Global Investment were arraigned by the anti-graft agency on May 9, 2024, on six-count contract fraud charges amounting to ₦2,825,032,220.97 during his tenure as Minister of Aviation, between 2019 and 2023.
During cross-examination by counsel to the fourth defendant, Michael Numa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Musa Odiniyan, the fifth prosecution witness (PW5) in the case, and a retired director in the Procurement Department, Ministry of Aviation, told the court that despite not being qualified, the company was given the contract by the ministry under the leadership of the first defendant.
Odiniyan said the company could not have qualified for the bidding process or the contract award if open and competitive bidding had been done.
“We use some criteria for determining the award of contracts for companies. I still maintain that if it was an open competitive bidding, the company Al Buraq may not have qualified,” he stated.
Odiniyan, also disclosed that the reason for which the contract was paid for was simply to ensure that it was completed and commissioned by former President Buhari before he left office.
“The reason for that payment was for the project to be implemented and commissioned before the exit of the former president. It was not for variation. The accounting officer sourced money from every relevant route to actualize the project. The N800 million is a budgetary allowance to support the actualization of the project,” he said.
He revealed that two of the ministry’s contracts awarded to Alburak and Enginos on the Apron and Terminal Building of Katsina Airport, respectively, were captured under two different budget codes but appeared in a single code in the procurement department.
The EFCC is pressing charges against Sirika for allegedly conferring undue advantage on Al Buraq by awarding contracts through improper influence, breaching procurement regulations, and defrauding the government.