Peter Oguebie, managing director, Petrus Ogu Nigeria Limited, who is
also a witness in the trial of a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice
Admiral Usman Jibrin, on Monday told Justice A. S. Umar of the Federal
Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, that his company sold a property
worth N600million to the former naval chief through a family company,
Harbor Bay International Limited.
Mr. Jibrin is facing trial
alongside Rear Admiral Bala Mshelia, Rear Admiral Shehu Ahmadu (all
retired) and Habor Bay International Limited on a four-count charge of
criminal conspiracy preferred against them by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission.
The naval chiefs, while in office, allegedly
bought a house worth N600million from the account of Naval Engineering
Services without budgetary provision.
It was also alleged that,
the documentation for transfer of ownership of the property was done
such that a private company owned by the family of the first defendant
(Vice Admiral Jibrin) became the buyer.
The offence is in
contravention of Section 26 (1) (b) and punishable under Section 22 (4)
of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offence Act 2000.
At
the resumed trial Monday, Mr. Oguebie, who was led in evidence by
counsel to the EFCC, Faruk Abdallah, as PW3, stated that, “payment for
the property located at Plot No. 2717 Cadastral A06, Maitama, Abjua was
made into our company account, Petrus Ogu Nigeria Limited, domiciled at
Diamond bank, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja by Naval Engineering Services”.
He
said: “All legal documents such as deed of assignment, power of
attorney and sales agreement relating to the property were signed by
me.”
Justice Umar had earlier admitted in evidence, the power of
attorney, sales agreement and deed of assignment as exhibits 1a, 1b and
1c, respectively.
Also testifying, Abdulkadir Idris Wakili, a
staff with the budget office of the federation, who had earlier been
subpoenaed with respect to the certification of budget of the Nigeria
Navy said, “I was in court to present the certified true copy of the
budget of the Nigerian Navy for 2013 and 2014.”
The prosecution
sought to tender the documents in evidence, but Jibrin’s counsel, Y. C.
Maikyau, SAN, objected on the grounds that, “the same documents earlier
tendered by the prosecution and rejected by the court for
non-certification are being re-presented again.”
Responding, Mr. Abdallah urged the court to discountenance Mr. Maikyau’s submission saying, “the issues are not the same”.
According
to him, “There are two sets of documents: one is from the Navy
forwarding their budget estimate, whereas, my Lord, the document sought
to be tendered is a document approved by the National Assembly”.
In
compliance with Section 106 (b) of the Evidence Act, Mr. Abdallah added
that the prosecution had listed a staff of the budget office as a
witness in the proof of evidence.
At this point, Justice Umar adjourned to June 14, 2017 for ruling on the admissibility of the document.
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