A
prosecution witness, Tosin Owobo, an investigator with the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday told Justice M.B. Idris of the
Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos that N2.4 billion, $115 million, 12 properties
and bullet-proof cars were recovered from a former Chief of Air Staff, Air
Marshal Adeola Amosu(retd.).
Mr Amosu is standing
trial alongside two serving senior Air Force officers: an Air Vice Marshal,
Jacob Adigun, and an Air Commodore, Gbadebo Olugbenga, a former Director of
Finance and Budget.
Also charged with the
accused are seven companies namely Delfina Oil and Gas limited, McAllan Oil and
Gas limited, Hebron Housing and Properties Company Limited, Trapezites BDC,
Fonds and Pricey Limited, Deegee Oil and Gas Limited, Timsegg Investment
Limited and Solomon Health Care Limited.
At the resumed hearing
on Tuesday, Mr Owobo told the court that his team members, in the course of
investigation, visited the properties, including St. Solomon Health Care, a
residential building in Yaba and another residential building in Badagry, that
were recovered from Mr Amosu by the commission.
He said though the
commission also recovered landed properties and buildings from the second and
third defendants, no money was recovered from the second defendant.
Mr Owobo, who is the
second prosecution witness, PW2, also stated that N383 million was recovered
from the wife of the first defendant through a bank draft in favour of the
federal government.
He also told the court
that the third defendant made a draft of N100 million to the federal government
through the commission’s recovery account.
Led in evidence by the
prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, Mr Owobo also stated that the commission
had secured interim forfeiture order on all the properties seized from Mr Amosu
and others.
“After securing the
interim forfeiture order, the commission visited, marked, sealed and restricted
all the properties to show the general public that the said properties are
under investigations by the EFCC,” he said.
However, the defence
team led by Bolaji Ayorinde objected the evidence of the prosecution witness,
saying that any evidence of the interim order not before the court or in the
proof of evidence was irrelevant to the proceedings.
He further argued that
“the witness cannot allude until the documents are put before your Lordship
either in the proof or additional proof of evidence.
“The witness cannot give
evidence on the content of the interim forfeiture order because the court and
the defence team have not sighted the documents.
“The evidence given by
the witness is not captured in Section 379 of the Administration of Criminal
Justice Act (ACJA). “
Mr Ayorinde also told
the court that the evidence by the witness did not form part of the court
records and that the interim forfeiture order had not been tendered before the
court.
He, therefore, prayed
the court to expunge the evidence given by the witness.
In his response, Mr
Oyedepo told the court that the submission of the defence was immature, adding
that “My Lord, the witness confirmed to the court that the interim forfeiture
order of the court was sought and obtained by the EFCC.
“The order contains the
list of properties seized from Amosu and others. “
‘My Lord, the evidence
cannot be said to be inadmissible”
Mr Oyedepo, who also
told the court that Section 379 of the ACJA does not govern the receiving of
evidence, further urged the court to allow the witness give evidence on what he
knows about the matter.
In his short ruling,
Justice Idris ruled in favour of the prosecution and asked the witness to
continue his evidence.
After the court ruling, Mr
Oyedepo asked for an adjournment to enable him prepare for another criminal
trial involving the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience
Jonathan.
Consequently, the court
adjourned the case to April 18, 2018 for continuation of trial.
No comments:
Post a Comment