The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday presented three new
witnesses against a former Director- General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration
and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi.
Akpobolokemi,
alongside five others, are standing trial before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the
Federal High Court sitting in Lagos in a N2.3billion money laundering charge preferred
against them by the EFCC.
At
the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, prosecution counsel, Rotimi
Oyedepo led three witnesses Yahaya Mohammed Yusuf and Wakili Dauda,( both
bureau de change operators) and Olamide
Ogunsanya , an Assistant Director with NIMASA, in evidence.
Yusuf
ho s the 7th prosecution witness told the court how he received the
sum of Two Hundred and Thirty Million, Nine Hundred and Twenty Six Thousand
Naira (N230,926,000) from Extreme Vertex Nigeria Limited through an account:
Kofar Fada Nigeria Limited, owned by his brother.
Extreme
Vertex Nigeria Limited is one of the companies alleged to have benefited from
the disbursement of over Two Billion Naira from the Committee on International
Shipping and Port Security( ISPS) in NIMASA.
Yusuf
said that the second accused person: Captain Ezekiel Bala Agaba was
his long- time customer . According to him, on 7 November, 2014, Kofar Fada Nigeria Limited
received the total sum of One Hundred and Forty Five Million, Three Hundred and
Fifty Thousand Naira Only (N145,350,000) in three tranches from Extreme
Vertex Nigeria Limited.
On 14 November, 2014, another Eighty-
Five Million, Five Hundred and Seventy Six Thousand Naira ( N85, 576,000)
was also paid in by the same company into Kofar Fada Nigeria Limited's bank
account. Yusuf said that after the money was credited into the account, he took
the dollar equivalent of the entire sum to the second accused person's office
in NIMASA and handed it to him.
When pressed to disclose his dealings with the
other accused persons, he denied knowing any of the accused persons apart
from the second accused person whom he had dealings with.
Wakili
Dauda, the 8th prosecution witness and one Dahiru Garba are the sole
owners of Kofar Fada Nigeria Limited. In his testimony, Dauda confirmed
the testimony of Yusuf but, added that he is one the signatories to the account
of Kofar Fada Nigeria Limited. He confirmed all the transactions of 7 and 14
November 2014 as disclosed by Yusuf. He told the court that he never had
physical contact with any of the accused persons. Olamide Ogunsanya, the 9th
prosecution witness told the court that her department is in charge
of revenue collection, processing and payment of contracts and that all
payments in the agency were approved by Akpobolokemi . She pointed out that no
payment could be made in NIMASA without the approval of the former
Director- General.
Ogunsanya
identified the second accused person: Captain Ezekiel Bala Agaba as the
Chairman of the Committee on International Shipping and Port
Security and that he was reporting directly to Akpobolokemi . She also
confirmed that the approval for constituting the Committee was obtained from
the presidency through the office of the National Security Adviser.
According to her, it was Akpobolokemi that obtained the approval.
The instruction for payments through the Committee, she explained, normally emanates
from Akpobolokemi to Agaba, who will then issue a memo to the Director,
Financial Services to make payments to any beneficiary stated in the
memo.
The witness told the court that on four occasions , between June 2013 and August 2014, the ISPS account received monies in the sum of N2,060,000,000( Two Billion, Sixty Million Naira only); N1,123, 400,000( One Billion, One Hundred and Twenty- Three Million, Four Hundred Thousand Naira only); N795,200,000( Seven Hundred and Ninety- Five Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira only) and N447,000,000 ( Four Hundred and Forty Seven Million Naira only) respectively. She identified the account opening packages of the Committee domiciled at Access Bank and Zenith Bank. The documents were then admitted into evidence as exhibit P18 and P19.
According to the witness, all approvals for the release of the above sums were obtained from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation by Akpobolokemi . Ogunsanya was shown the approval for the release of the sum of N1,123,400,000 which she identified and same was admitted as exhibit P20.
Justice Buba adjourned the matter to 1 March, 2016 for continuation of trial.
The witness told the court that on four occasions , between June 2013 and August 2014, the ISPS account received monies in the sum of N2,060,000,000( Two Billion, Sixty Million Naira only); N1,123, 400,000( One Billion, One Hundred and Twenty- Three Million, Four Hundred Thousand Naira only); N795,200,000( Seven Hundred and Ninety- Five Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira only) and N447,000,000 ( Four Hundred and Forty Seven Million Naira only) respectively. She identified the account opening packages of the Committee domiciled at Access Bank and Zenith Bank. The documents were then admitted into evidence as exhibit P18 and P19.
According to the witness, all approvals for the release of the above sums were obtained from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation by Akpobolokemi . Ogunsanya was shown the approval for the release of the sum of N1,123,400,000 which she identified and same was admitted as exhibit P20.
Justice Buba adjourned the matter to 1 March, 2016 for continuation of trial.
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