A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, yesterday resisted a bid by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to tender his account statement.
His lawyer Norrison Quakers (SAN) told Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Lagos that the document did not comply with the Evidence Act.
But, EFCC’s lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo said the bank account was relevant to the case since it would be used to prove the allegations against Fani-Kayode in counts five to 15 of the charge.
The commission re-arraigned Fani-Kayode and former Finance Minister (State) Senator Nenadi Usman for alleged N4.6billion laundering and fraud.
They were arraigned along with a former National Chairman of the Association of Local Government in Nigeria (ALGON), Yusuf Danjuma and a company, Jointrust Dimensions Ltd.
They pleaded not guilty to the 17-count charge of money laundering.
The defendants were first arraigned on June 28, last year, before Justice Muslim Hassan. But the judge recused himself on March 16 after Fani-Kayode accused him of likely bias.
At yesterday proceedings, Oyedepo sought to tender Fani-Kayode’s Zenith Bank Plc account statement, saying it was the “transaction instrument” upon which the charge was based.
A prosecution witness, Zenith Bank’s Compliance Officer Teslim Ajuwon, said he got a request from the EFCC for the statement, following which he forwarded it to the commission.
He said a certificate of identification was attached to the statement to authenticate the state of the computer used to generate it.
“The printed statement was compared to the original entry in the bank’s system. The account is numbered 1004735721 in the name of Femi Fani-Kayode, which contains entries from January 22, 2003 to July 31, 2015,” the witness said.
As Oyedepo made to tender the statement, Quakers objected on the basis that it did not comply with Section 90 (1) (1)(1-iv) of the Evidence Act.
“A statement of account qualifies as a ‘banker’s book’ and there’s a requirement to be complied with. On the face of it, this document has not complied with Section 90.
“Having failed to comply with the section, we urge the court to allow the document to fly out of the window,” he said.
But Oyedepo urged the court to discountenance the objection for being misconceived. He said the prosecution strictly complied with the section.
Replying on points of law, Quakers said a document cannot be certified orally, adding that from the face of it, no officer of the bank certified it.
He said the document was certified by one Obot Eduak of “EFCC Admin”, not an officer of the bank.
“The only competent authority to certify the document to show compliance with the Evidence Act is the bank, not the EFCC,” he said.
Count one of the charge reads: “That you, Nenadi Esther Usman, Femi Fani-Kayode, Danjuman Yusuf And Jointrust Dimentions Nigeria Ltd on or about the 8th day of January, 2015, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired amongst yourselves to indirectly retain the sum of N1,500, 000,000.00, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful act to wit: stealing.”
The offence, EFCC said, violates sections 1(a) and 16(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012 and punishable under Section 16(2)(b).
Justice Aikawa adjourned till December 5.
|The Nation
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