Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, with one of the witnesses recalling how she transferred $2million into his company, Destra Investment Limited.
Metuh is standing trial for alleged money
laundering involving N400 million meant for the purchase of arms to
combat the Boko Haram insurgency which he allegedly collected from the
Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) in November, 2014.
The first Prosecution Witness (PWI),
Nicole Nneka Ararume, a Wealth Manager with Asset and Resource
Management Company Limited [ARM], opened her evidence-in-chief amid
stiff objection from Metuh’s lead lawyer, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu [SAN], who
said they needed more time to prepare their defence.
The counsel also told the court they have
filed an application asking for a variation of the bail conditions
which they considered stringent to enable the defendant get bail to
avail them with some vital information and documents.
They lamented that the inability of their
client to meet some of his bail conditions has put them in a
disadvantage position to effectively put his case across.
He told the court that they took the date
for definite trial, believing that we would have satisfied the bail
conditions and with that he would have availed them with facilities and
necessary documents for his defence,” he said.
“The Proof of Evidence runs into about
360 pages including exhibits and statement of accounts and we need time
to prepare our defence”, he said.
The application was opposed by
prosecution counsel, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, who argued that the request
seeking a variation of the bail conditions was just served on him in
court and that he needed time to respond to it.
In his ruling, the trial judge, Justice
Okon Abang, overruled the objection by Ikpeazu to adjourn the trial.
Also, Mrs. Ararume narrated how she collected $2million from Metuh at
his house in Prince and Princess Estate, Abuja with an instruction that
same be invested.
According to her testimony, she changed the money to its naira equivalent through two Bureau de Change [BDC] operators.
“I know the first defendant [Metuh], he
is the owner of Destra Investment Limited [second defendant]which is our
client. When I got to his house [Metuh] at Prince and Princess Estate,
there were visitors in the living room and he invited me into his office
in the house. We discussed the portfolio after which he gave me $2
million in $100 bills.
“This is to be taken to the bureau de
change operators who will then transfer the money to ARM for investment.
From there (Metuh’s house), I proceeded to Mr. Sie Iyenome’s office at
Wuse 2 where I gave him $1million”, she said..
But in his objection, Tahir urged the
court to discountenance the submissions of the defence and to urge them
to proceed with the cross- examination and there are sufficient
documents and materials in their possessions to proceed with the
cross-examination.
Meanwhile, the Igbo Mandate Congress
(IMC) has warned that the war against corruption would boomerang if not
handled with caution by avoiding any act of vendetta.
Giving the warning in a statement
yesterday, the Director-General of IMC, Rev. Obinna Akukwe, condemned
Metuh’s handcuffing while being taken to court to face trial. He said
that treatment was humiliation and barbaric
He queried: “Why should he be handcuffed like a condemned criminal when he was yet to face trial?
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