$1.6bn fraud: Absence of prosecution witnesses stalls Omokore, others trial

Absence of prosecution witnesses in court on Thursday at the Federal High Court Abuja forced the court to adjourned the case of a businessman, Jide Omokore, and others who are facing trial for alleged diversion of $1.6bn proceeds of sales of Federal Government’s crude oil.

The lead private prosecution counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), told the court that his two witnesses, who were to arrive from Lagos, were not available despite earlier giving him assurances that they would be in court for the proceedings.

Jocab who is prosecuting Omokore and other defendants on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, expressed regrets to the trial judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, over the absence of the two scheduled witnesses in court.

The matter went on smoothly on Wednesday, with the EFCC calling its fourth prosecution witness who was also cross-examined by the defence, and it was adjourned until Thursday for continuation.

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However, at the resumed hearing on Thursday, Jacobs said his two witnesses, who were expected to arrive from Lagos, were not in court.

He explained that one of the two witnesses was an investigative officer in the case but was recently transferred from Abuja to Lagos.

The judge also expressed sadness over the failure of the witnesses to be in court.

Although the judge attested to the dilligence of the prosecuting counsel and noted that he sensed the lawyer was embarrassed by the absence of the witnesses, he insisted that the trial must continue on Thursday.

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The judge said that he would stand down the matter for as long as when the prosecution was able to produce the witnesses in court to enable the trial to make a progress.

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But with the intervention of some of the defence lawyers, including R.A Rabana-Lawal (SAN), Adeniyi Adegbonmire (SAN), and Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), who explained that Jacobs had explained his difficulty to them before the court sitting, the judge reluctantly, adjourned the matter till March 1 and 2.

The EFCC is prosecuting Omokore, his two companies, Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Limited, and others on nine counts of criminal diversion of about $1.6bn alleged to be part of proceeds of sales of petroleum products belonging to the Federal Government.

Andrew Orolua, Abuja