By Olawale Akinremi
#TrackNigeria: Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, on Tuesday dismissed the objection raised by the second defendant, Muniru Olaniran, in the N8 billion CBN currency scam case.
Olaniran had in a trial within trial objected to the documentary evidence tendered against him by Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on grounds that “the investigators had threatened, torture, intimidated and harassed him if he refused to lie against himself.’’
Ayo-Emmanuel held that the defendant had not proved why the court should reject the evidence tendered against him by the EFCC.
“I am convinced that Olaniran voluntarily answered the questions put to him and I am also convinced that he voluntarily signed the statements.
“It is instructive to note that I have delivered a similar ruling in the objection raised by the first defendant, Kolawole Babalola, involving the same set of statements on Feb. 19.
“Consequently, the objection raised by Olaniran is overruled and all the statements tendered by EFCC are admitted,” the judge ruled.
At the resumed trial, Mr Saliu Kadir, an EFCC investigator, had told the court that 49 boxes meant to contain N490 million was found to be containing only N79 million, leaving a shortage of over N410 million.
Kadir said this while testifying before Ayo-Emmanuel.
The EFCC witness also said that Babalola and Olaniran, the first and second accused persons, received the boxes from commercial banks on behalf of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the duo also made false presentation to the apex bank that the boxes indeed contained N490 million through the slip found in one of the boxes.
Babalola and Olaniran with others had since 2015 been facing multiple charges bordering on conspiracy, unlawful conversion, forgery, stealing and recirculation of mutilated currency at Ibadan branch of CBN.
Ayo-Emmanuel adjourned the case till March 27. (NAN)
