Former director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, has been discharged and acquitted of an alleged N8.5 billion fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had brought a 22-count charge against him and four other defendants.
However, Justice Ayokunle Faji discharged and acquitted Akpobolokemi and one Josephine Otuaga, a staff of NIMASA, ruling that the EFCC failed to establish a prima facie (sufficient evidence) case against them.
The other two defendants, Major-General Emmanuel Atewe (rtd) and Kime Engonzu have to open their defence because they have a case to answer in counts 12 to 22 of the charge.
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The defendants were prosecuted for an amended 22-count charge bordering on conspiracy, conversion, and stealing (by fraudulent conversion).
The court held that none of the witnesses the prosecution called led any evidence linking Akpobolokemi and Otuaga to the offences they were charged with.
The court also noted that out of the eleven witnesses fielded by the complainant, only one witness, (PW 2), gave evidence where the name of Akpobolokemi featured, while other witnesses made it clear that they did not know him and did not have any dealings with him.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Patrick Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, Major General Emmanuel Atewe, Kime Engozu, and Josphine Otuaga sometime in 2014, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Court, with intent to defraud, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: Conversion of the sum of N8,537,586,798.58 property of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.”
They had pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, thereby prompting the commencement of their trial.
Upon conclusion of the prosecution’s case, all the defendants opted for no-case submission.
