Trial of Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa State, who is being prosecuted on a 27-count charge alongside his two sons, Aminu Lamido and Mustapha Lamido, and two others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) resumed before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday.
Joy Isen, a senior marketing manager of Zenith Bank who was subpoenaed by the court, tendered opening bank account packages and statement of accounts of Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company, Interior Woodworks Nigeria Limited before the court and admitted as Exhibits EFCC 28 a – p, 29, 30, while photocopies of the account opening package, certificate of incorporation, including mandate cards and photos and signatories to Dantata and Sawoe accounts were marked EFCC 31.
While being cross examined by the counsel to the defendants, Joe Agi, Isen said there was no evidence of money laundering against the accused, just as she affirmed that the construction company had registered with the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML), while the law mandated the bank itself to report any suspicious activity relating to money laundering to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
She however denied knowledge of any report on any activity on the company’s account, as she was not a compliance officer, in relation to counts 18 to 20 of the charge, which alleged that Sule Lamido laundered N124 million, N77 million, and accepted N80 million as bribe, as she could not pinpoint where such transfers were made in the statement of account tendered.
With the accounts spans six years, she affirmed that Sule Lamido was neither a receiver nor payee into the said account, and that there was no payment made to any of the defendants as well as one Rauna Integrated Limited, which does not have a SCUML certificate, even though she could not confirm if the bank report any suspicious transactions.
The prosecution however proceeded to call its Principal Witness 10 (PW 10), Kehinde Aberuagba, a compliance officer with Access Bank located at Plot 2357 Douala Street, Wuse zone 5, Abuja.
The trial judge, Justice Ademola, having taken arguments from both sides admitted the documents, saying that in line with the subpoena issued by the court on the witness, the documents had been duly provided in line with Section 7 of the Evidence Act, as such they were admissible by the court.
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