ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – A witness from the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA), Mr. Bali Ndam has told the Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja how the sum of N400m was transferred from their account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to that of Destral Investment Limited belonging to the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh.
Testifying at the resumed trial on Tuesday, Ndam who is a legal officer at ONSA, informed the court that the former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) authorised the transfer of the fund to Metuh’s company account for what he described as a non-existing contract
He said that the payment done in electronic form, was said to have been for security services rendered by Destral Limited.
The witness (PW3) also tendered the schedule of payment which authorised CBN to make the payment to Destral Limited.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, the witness however, informed Justice Okon Abang that the ONSA, to the best of his knowledge, did not award any contract to Destral to which it received N400m.
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Ndam said that as the legal officer in the NSA’s office, whose schedule involved legal drafting, legal opinion and contract fretting, he never came across any document indicating that contract of N400m was at anytime awarded to Metuh’s company.
But the attempt to tender three different documents against Metuh by the prosecution was vehemently opposed by his counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), who insisted that the witness was not the author of the documents and cannot be cross-examined on them.
The documents were the petition dated November 28, 2015, list of companies that benefited from the e-payments and the schedule of payment that authorised CBN to transfer huge sums to various companies and individuals during the tail end of the last administration.
Apart from claiming that the witness was not the author of the document, Ikpeazu argued that there were discrepancies on the heading of one of the documents sought to be tendered which indicated that it is not the same as one written against the defendant.
However in his ruling, Justice Abang dismissed the objection and admitted the documents in evidence.
The judge said that the witness as a staff of the federal government, which put Metuh on trial can testify and tender documents on behalf of the government or any of its agency.
Justice Abang also said that the documents did not need certification because they are mere correspondences from private organisations and individuals and not titled documents that required payment of specified amount as demanded by law.
Under cross examination, by Ikpeazu, the witness read out a portion of the tendered document to the effect that “due process was followed in awarding and payment for the contract”.
The witness who agreed that the Administration and Finance Department was responsible for payment of contract costs and he also read out another portion in the tendered document to the effect that the “payment was for purchase of three operational vehicles”.
He said the schedule of payment admitted by the court which authorised the payment of N400m into Destral account was not forged and that it actually emanated from the ONSA and was authorised by Dasuki for implementation.
The witness also admitted that he made a statement to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on January 21, after the case against Metuh has been adjourned for trial.
He however disagreed with the defence counsel that he was procured to manufacture evidence against the defendants claiming that “it is not true that I was procured to manufacture evidence against the defendant”.
“I am on oath to say the facts as they are and it is not true that I was procured to manufacture evidence in this matter simply because of my statement of January 21. As a matter of fact investigations are still ongoing,” he said.
Justice Abang adjourned for continued hearing, and and ruling on the application of variation of bail by the the defendant to tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27.