The Metropolitan Police Service, London, UK, yesterday, told an Abuja High Court sitting at Gudu that the former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, who is now a serving senator, was still wanted in the United Kingdom over his alleged involvement in money laundering.
According to the Service, a 2004 warrant of arrest issued against Dariye, who represents Plateau Central, after he jumped bail in London and escaped to Nigeria to avoid prosecution, is still valid.
The detective that led a team of Met police officers that arrested Dariye on September 28, 2004, Mr. Peter Clerk, testified before the court yesterday as the ninth prosecution witness at the resumed hearing of a 23-count criminal charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against the former governor before the high court.
He said Dariye’s arrest and subsequent detention was a fallout of an investigation into a credit card fraud involving one Christopher McQuiney, who he said was caught with 11,500 Pounds concealed in a briefcase. The witness told the court that McQuiney, who was arrested and taken to a police station in North East London, confessed that the money belonged to his boss, Dariye.
Clerk said he had also testified before an investigating committee in Jos, saying his evidence was what eventually led to Dariye’s impeachment.
He said Dariye would be arrested anytime he visits UK. The former governor of Plateau State had pleaded not guilty to the charges proferred against him.
