Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi, of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Wednesday admitted three documents as exhibits in the bribery trial of the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Duport Midstream Company Limited, Mr Akintoye Akindele.
The documents, which included a petition to the Inspector General of Police by Summit Oil International Ltd, Original Statement of Akindele to the Police and a Motion filed before a Nasarawa State High Court were admitted and marked as exhibits A2, A3 and A4, respectively.
The court admitted the documents at the resumption of cross examination of the first prosecution witness (PW1), Mr Ibrahim Ezekiel Sini, a Superintendent of Police (SP).
It will be recalled that the judge had on February 28, adjourned for the continuation of cross examination of the witness by the defendant’s lawyer, Mrs Funmi Quadri, SAN.
Akindele, an oil magnate is standing trial on a one count charge of bribing a Police officer in order to compromise his investigation on alleged diversion of the sum of $5,636,397.01, belonging to Summit Oil International Ltd.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, the senior lawyer confronted the witness with the petition showing that the indebtedness of her client, according to the petitioner, is $5.6 million and N73 million.
While the $5.6 million is said to be the debt owed, the N73 million is said to be reimbursement expenses.
She claimed that while in custody, Sini and his team had several meetings with the defendant and in one occasion the defendant was asked how he intends to liquidate his debt to Summit Oil.
“I can’t remember”, Sini responded.
The witness also denied that the defendant used a computer belonging to the police to write a letter undertaking to repay the debt.
“He said so in a statement”, the witness added.
Mrs Quadri then went ahead to tender the original statement Akindele made to the IGP, wherein the defendant claimed that the money he had transferred to an account provided by Sini was to demonstrate his willingness to pay part of the $5.6 million and N73 million owed the petitioner (Summit Oil International Ltd).
According to him, the N50 million he transferred to Blissdon Nigeria Ltd, an account said to have been provided by Sini, was to demonstrate his willingness to pay the alleged debt of $5.6 million and N73 million.
Meanwhile, Sini denied that the police had set up a different panel to investigate the alleged N50 million bribe because he was found complicit.
According to the witness, since he was the one accusing Akindele of bribery, “we can not be a judge in our own case”.
At the end of cross examination, Justice Osho-Adebiyi, adjourned to April 18, for the police to call their next witnesses.
The one count charge marked: CR/595/2023, reads:
“That you Akintoye Akindele, male, 49 years, MD/CEO of Duport Midstream Company Limited of D2 Mambilla Close Osborne Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos between 5th and 9th August 2023 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this court while being investigated by SP Ibrahim Ezekiel Sini and team on a petition submitted to the Inspector General of Police FIB by Summit Oil International Ltd on allegation of diversion of the sum of $5,636,397.01 Million USD and N73,543,763.25, you offered gratification of N150,000,000.00 (One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) and made part payment of N50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira) to SP Ibrahim Sini, a public servant in circumstance and for the purpose of allowing you to escape abroad and to write a report in your favour and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 118 of the Penal Code Law.”