The ongoing trial of Abubakar Ali Peters and his company, Nadabo Energy Limited, for an alleged N1.4billion fraud, before Justice C.A. Balogun of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos was, again, stalled on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, as the counsel for the defendant, E.O. Isiramen, told the Court that the defence was not ready to continue with the cross-examination of the fifth prosecution witness, PW5, Abdulrasheed Bawa, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The EFCC is prosecuting Abubakar and his company on a 27-count charge for allegedly using forged documents to obtain the sum of N1,464,961,978. 24 from the Federal Government as oil subsidy, after allegedly inflating the quantity of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, purportedly imported and supplied by the company.
Isiramen had, on December 20, 2021, begun the cross-examination of the witness. He had further cross-examined the witness on January 25, 2022. However, at today’s proceedings, which was meant for the continuation of cross-examination, Isiramen told the Court that he would not be able to continue.
He hinged his inability to continue with the cross-examination on the argument that the defence was yet to receive a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the court’s records of proceedings.
The Judge, who expressed surprise at the argument of the defence counsel, stated that the records of proceedings had already been prepared, and that no certification was required since they were needed only for cross-examination of the witness.
Publisher,
Lagos Post Online,
Lagos Post is an online publication that seeks to provide fair, unbiased, credible, balanced and useful information about Corporate Organisations, Governments and the General Public by breaking news in Business, Politics, Arts, Entertainment, Culture, and Sports in Nigeria, Africa and the World. As a global news portal, we continually stand for responsible journalism and sound media practice.
Mobile: +238025837037
Email: lagospostng@gmail.com
