The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has presented the first prosecution witness, William Abimbola, in the ongoing trial of a former deputy director of Highways of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Augustine Olowoniyan, alongside a surveyor, Sulaiman Muhammed, of the Department of Highways and Planning.
On Thursday, they stood before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja.
A Friday statement by the Commission said they are being prosecuted on a three-count charge bordering on alleged diversion and misappropriation of public funds amounting to about ₦1.9 billion, contrary to Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The sum is reportedly earmarked for acquiring titles for federal roads nationwide between March 4, 2019, and July 17, 2020, which they allegedly converted to personal use.
At the Thursday proceedings, EFCC said the witness, a compliance officer with the United Bank of Africa, UBA, while being led in evidence by prosecuting counsel Abba Mohammed (SAN), stated that the bank received a request letter from EFCC concerning an investigation into the accounts of some of its customers.
According to the statement, the first defendant, Olowoniyan, has three accounts with the bank, while Mohammed, the second defendant, also has an account with the bank.
He was said to have disclosed that he received yet another letter from the Commission regarding another customer, Ogueri Paschal, who had two accounts with the bank.
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“The EFCC requested statements of accounts and account opening packages. The statement was extracted from the bank’s server system and compared with what we have on the computer to ensure that it is the same. Our information is stored in the computer.
“We retrieve soft copies, which were then sent to printers to generate hard copies. After generating the hard copies, we printed the documents, that is, the statement of accounts opening packages.
“I compared the printout with what was on the system to ensure that it was accurate. The details were the same. This was then dispatched to the EFCC with a cover letter and certificate of identification. I signed the certificate on behalf of my supervisor, Edward Balande, because he was on leave at that time in Lagos,” he said.
The court then admitted the EFCC Letter of Investigation Activities to UBA, dated October 30, 2023, and UBA replied to the EFCC letter, dated October 31, 2023, with a certificate of compliance as Exhibit PW1 A.
The court also admitted in evidence a reply from UBA to EFCC letter dated October 31, 2023, with a certificate of compliance for Paschal Ogueri, marked as Exhibit PW1B.
Source: Channels TV
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