The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Monday presented a prosecution witness, Ms. Tolu Olanubi, in the ongoing trial of Messrs Saminu Rabiu, Jubril Rowaye, Alminnur Resources Limited and Brila Energy Limited, which were alleged to have duped the federal government of N1.5 billion in subsidy payment with the use of a dead cargo vessel.
The revelation was contained in a statement made available to THISDAY by the anti-graft agency in Abuja.
In the statement, Olanubi told the court that MT KRITI, the vessel allegedly used by the accused persons in shipping petrol to Nigeria in 2011 had ceased to exist since 2010.
Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, Olanubi, an investigator with the EFCC told the court that in the course of the investigation, a relationship was established between the EFCC and Lloyd’s List Intelligence, an organisation that
provides information on vessels, ownership of vessels, movement and location of vessels.
She said the EFCC subscribed to the website of Lloyd’s List Intelligence where it was discovered that MT KRITI which was purportedly used to ship in petrol on June 14, 2011 had ceased to exist and declared “Status: Dead.”
The investigator also told the court that the last place of location of the vessel was Gadani Beach in Pakistan.
“It is not possible for the vessel to have sailed into Nigeria on June 14, 2011, since it was reported dead on April 17, 2010," she further told the court.
According to the statement, Olanubi also told the court that the vessel had changed its name from KRITI to AKIT before it ceased to exist.
She later demonstrated to the court, using a projector and a Laptop Computer attached with an internet modem, how she arrived at her facts.
However, counsel to the second and fourth defendants, Ajibola Oloyede, challenged the admissibility of the documents saying it was generated through a computer simulation programme.
He alleged that the documents did not meet the procedure of tending such documents as stated in the Evidence Act.
“It is not for the witness to say it was printed from the computer. The document printed should have all the information of how it was produced.”
However, counsel to EFCC objected, saying the documents are relevant and that enough foundation was laid in compliance with the Evidence Act.
“The documents speak for itself. The date and time the documents were printed are on the face of the documents. As to the issue of certification, the Evidence Act did not prescribe the form or mode of certification. So the way it is certified should suffice,” he said.
While upholding the documents, Justice Banjoko had earlier dismissed an application by the second accused person in which he sought to have his travelling document returned to him on the grounds that he wanted to travel abroad for medical treatment.
Justice Banjoko in his ruling, said though there was a letter purportedly written by a medical practitioner backing the accused that he had a complicated heart problem, there was however no sufficient proof that the case could not be treated in Nigeria.
The EFCC, according to the statement, had on October 17, 2011, arraigned the quartet for allegedly defrauding the federal government by submitting forged document and making false claims from the petroleum support fund, as subsidy payment to Alminnur Resources Limited.
They were said to have conspired to obtain the over N1.5 billion from the federal government as subsidy payment for the purported importation of 19,000 MT of petrol.
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