Justice Sherifat Solebo of the
Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, October 10, 2019,
admitted in evidence documents tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, against a former Managing Director of the defunct Bank PHB,
Francis Atuche.
At the resumed sitting today, the
prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, through the first prosecution witness,
PW1, Oluwamuye Abayomi, a staff of Sterling Bank Plc, tendered the statement of
account of one Kehinde Bami, statements of account of a firm, Damivok Ventures
Limited, and several bank cheques purportedly issued on the directive of the
defendant, which were all admitted in evidence by the court.
However, when Pinheiro sought to
tender some documents through the second prosecution witness, PW2, Igueke
Osikoya, a staff of Zenith Bank Plc, who was subpoenaed to present the
document, counsel to the defendant, Paul Mgbeoma, opposed the admissibility of
the documents.
Consequently, Pinheiro tendered the
photocopy of the “subpoena”, which compelled the appearance of the
second prosecution witness before the court.
In his response, Mgbeoma said the
document was not duly certified and that it was not the original copy.
Justice Solebo held that “the
document will be admitted in evidence due to the fact that I signed the
subpoena.”
The Judge, therefore, admitted the
document in evidence and further directed the PW2 to certify the document and
come back to tender it.
The case was adjourned to October 25, 26 and 27, 2019 for continuation of trial.
