N2.3bn scam: More exhibits admitted against Akpobolokemi, others; N2bn fraud: Judge returns Oronsaye’s case file

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, on Tuesday, admitted more exhibits against a former Director- General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi and five others.

Akpobolokemi is standing trial, alongside five others, on a 13- count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing and fraudulent conversion of funds, to the tune of N687, 294, 680 (Six Hundred and Eighty Seven Million, Two Hundred and Ninety Four Thousand, Six Hundred and Eighty Naira). His co-accused persons are: Captain Ezekiel Bala Agaba; Ekene Nwakuche; Governor Amechee Juan; Vincent Udoye, Captain Ade Sahib Olopoenia and Gama Marine Nigeria Limited.

At the resumed hearing of the matter on Tuesday, prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, presented one of the three witnesses he earlier brought before the court. The witness: Olamide Ogunsanya, an Assistant Director in NIMASA disclosed to the court, how the sum of N795,200,000( Seven Hundred and Ninety Five Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira only) was paid into the International Shipping and Port Safety, ISPS, account and how same was disbursed. The witness told the court that approval for the disbursement of the money came from the office of Akpobolokemi.

The document conveying the presidential approval through the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, was identified by the witness and same was admitted as exhibit P22. On the document, Ogunsanya identified the
endorsement of the first accused person, Akpobolokemi.
Also tendered through the witness are letters from NIMASA to the Accountant General of Federation and approval from theAccountant General’s office. The documents were eventually admitted as exhibits P24 and P25 respectively.

The witness also identified the third accused person, Ekene Nwakuche as the first beneficiary in the disbursement of the N795,200,000. She told the court that between 16 September, 2014 and 6 November, 2014, Nwakuche received N3,000,000 each, on eight occasions, from the ISPS account totalling N28,000,000 (Twenty Eight Million Naira Only).
Other beneficiaries are Avant Guard Securities, N94,000,000; Extreme Vertex Limited, N318,000,000; Suco Global, N15,000,000; O2 Services Limited, N21,200,000 and N16,000,000; and Aroward Consulting, N70,000,000.
At the end of the day, the witness said there was a balance of N198, 635 (One Hundred and Ninety Eight Thousand, Six Hundred and Thirty Five Naira Only) left in the account.

While explaining the procedure for receiving and disbursing money in NIMASA, Ogunsanya said a request would be made to the presidency through the NSA’s office and when approved, the DG would then ask the Executive Director to implement. From the executive director’s office, an internal memo is raised and directed to the Director, Financial Services Department where payment instructions would be issued.
The witness further disclosed that on 20 March, 2014, the sum of N447, 000,000 was paid into the ISPS account and same was disbursed following the same procedure, with a slight change in the beneficiaries.
In this instance, new beneficiaries were included. They are: Green Lemon Limited and Seabulk.

Oyedepo asked the witness about the procedure for the award of contracts in NIMASA and she said the agency
has different threshold in terms of contracts award as stipulated by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPE). She said the DG has an approval limit of N5,000,000. For contracts that exceed N5,000,000 to
anything below N50,000,000 it falls into the threshold of the parastatal’s tenders board. Contracts that are between N50,000,000 to below N100,000,000, fall under the threshold of ministerial tenders board
and any contract above N100,000,000 falls within the presidential or Federal Executive Council threshold.
The N318,000,000 payment to Extreme Vertex Limited was cited as example of violation of BPE’s stipulated threshold by the former leadership of NIMASA.

Ogunsanya said that though the normal procedure for awarding contract was always followed, she never met or saw any representative from any of the companies that were alleged to have been awarded the purported contracts.
During cross examination, the witness admitted that she was one of the signatories to the ISPS account but when she was asked whether she was aware of the 2013/14 National Assembly’s budgetary appropriation for the sum of N447,000,000, Ogunsanya said she had to look at the budget to be able to answer the question.
Counsel to Akpobolokemi, Joseph Nwobike, SAN, prayed the court for an adjournment in order to effectively cross examine the witness.
Justice Buba adjourned the matter to Wednesday, 2 March 2016 for continuation of trial.

The N2bn fraud case involving a former Head of Service, HoS, to the Federation, Stephen Oronsaye, would have to start de novo as the presiding judge, Justice J. T. Tsoho, has said he has been “instructed” to return the case file to Justice Gabriel Kolawole, who was initially assigned the case in July 2015.
Oronsaye is being prosecuted at the Federal High Court, Abuja, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on offences bordering on stealing and obtaining money by false pretence. He is alleged to have been complicit in several contract awards during his tenure as HoS, and is being charged along with Osarenkhoe Afe on an amended 35-count charge.
They had taken a plea of “not guilty” before Justice Kolawole, to the initial 24-count charge brought against them. However, findings from further investigations, according to the prosecution, had necessitated amendment of the charges, in which Oronsaye, Afe, and Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, were alleged to have been complicit in several biometric contract awards.
In the amended counts, they are charged along with three others, which are corporate bodies – Cluster Logistic Limited, Kangolo Dynamic Cleaning Limited and Drew Investment and Construction Company Limited.
Justice Kolawole had fixed February 16, 2016 for the defendants to enter their pleas for the amended counts; but on the said date, information at the court indicated that the case had been reassigned to Justice Tsoho.
At the sitting before Justice Tsoho, they could not, however, take their pleas as there were no legal representatives at the proceeding for Cluster Logistic Limited, Kangolo Dynamic Cleaning Limited and Drew Investment and Construction Company Limited. The trial judge had at the sitting adjourned till March 1, 2016 to ensure that the defendants were served with the amended charges for the case to proceed.
At the resumed sitting Tuesday, prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, told the court that the co-defendants had been served with the summons.
“We have served the fourth, fifth and sixth defendants with the summons, but they still have not appeared, and no legal representative,” he said. Citing Section 478 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Jacobs urged the court to “enter a plea of not guilty for them since they are corporations”.
Kanu Agabi, SAN, counsel to Oronsaye, did not raise any objections, neither did Oluwole Aladedoye, counsel to Afe and Frederick Hamilton Global Services.
But in a twist, Justice Tsoho, told the court that the case file came to him by error, and “the instruction is that the file be returned to the judge who started the matter and so will simply record it and return it”.
Jacobs argued that “we never asked for the case to be moved to another judge, moreover, the case has not commenced before the other judge.”
Justice Tsoho, however, ruled that: “It has been realized that the case came to me in error, and I’ve been instructed that it should be returned to Justice Kolawole who started it; he should continue where he stopped. I wish you the best of luck.”