The trial of a former governor of Kaduna State, Muktar Ramalan Yero, before Justice Z. B. Abubakar of the Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna continued on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 with the tendering of evidence by the first prosecution witness (PW1), Jonah Abimaje.
Yero is being prosecuted by the Kaduna Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over his alleged involvement in the ‘sharing’ of N700million provided by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential election.
Abimaje, who was Head of Operations at Ahmadu Bello Branch Kaduna, and acting regional Head of Operations, Ali Akilu Branch of a new generation bank in 2015, had during his testimony at the last sitting (January 21, 2021) narrated how monies received by the bank from the Central Bank of Nigeria was collected by the defendants.
The witness testified to the effect that, the said sum was paid to the 2nd and 4th defendants in cash, to which they signed a ‘collection form’ individually as evidence of collection.
At the resumed sitting today, Abimaje, while being led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, Nasiru Salele, tendered two receipts of cash collected by the defendants.
The admissibility of the documents was strongly objected to by the defence who argued that the documents were not properly certified and that such document ought to be tendered through an officer of the Commission and not through a private witness from the bank.
In response, Salele argued that the documents were properly certified by the bank adding that, the originals of the documents in question were still in the custody of the bank. He urged the court to admit the documents in evidence.
After arguments and counter arguments by counsel, Justice Abubakar adjourned till March 25, 2021 for ruling and continuation of hearing.
In another development ,Justice Patricia Ajoku of the Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan has sentenced an internet fraudster, Mathew Daniel Ogwuche (a.k.a Karlee Grey ), to seven months in prison after finding him guilty of impersonation in a criminal charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan zonal office.
The 22-year-old secondary school dropout was convicted on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 as the judge held that the Commission successfully proved the allegation of impersonating one Karlee Grey to defraud people through the use of the internet.
The offence is contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(ii) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the same Act.
The judge also ordered that the convict restitute the sum of $645 (Six Hundred and Forty Five United States of America Dollars) and forfeits one Hp Laptop and one Infinix S4 mobile phone to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the EFCC.
