Buhari anti-corruption war, claims first casualty
Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the
Federal High Court, Lagos, on Friday convicted a former Director-General
of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Raymond
Omatseye, of N1.5bn contract scam and sentenced him to five years
imprisonment.
The judge pronounced Omatseye guilty of
24 out of the 27 counts pressed against him by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission.
She sentenced him to five years
imprisonment for each of the 24 proven counts, holding that the
sentences would run concurrently.
“I am satisfied that the prosecution has
proved its case against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt in the
face of the offences contained in counts 1-20, 23, 24 and 26 of the
amended charge and I accordingly found the defendant guilty as charged,”
the judge held.
Omatseye was arraigned on January 21, 2013 by the EFCC before Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia on an amended 27 counts.
The EFCC accused him of engaging in
contract splitting and bid rigging to the tune of over N1.5bn while in
office as the DG of NIMASA.
The offence, the anti-graft agency said, contravened Section 58(4) of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
Omatseye was also accused of breaching the provisions of Section 14(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004.
Upon his re-arraignment on January 21,
2013 he had pleaded not guilty, following which the court ordered the
prosecution to open its case.
To prove the allegations, the EFCC,
through its lawyer, Chief Godwin Obla (SAN), called three witnesses,
among who was an EFCC investigator, Ibrahim Ahmed; a former Acting
Director of Procurement with NIMASA, Mohammed Shehu; and an officer of
the Bureau of Public Procurement, Aminu Aliyu.
But when called upon to respond to the
anti-graft agency, Omatseye, through his lawyer, Mr. Olusina Sofola
(SAN), filed a no-case submission, contending that the charge filed
against him by the EFCC was defective.
He argued that the prosecution had
failed in the final analysis to establish a prima facie case against him
to warrant him to enter the dock to defend himself.
But Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia, in a
ruling on February 2, 2015, dismissed Omatseye’s no-case application,
holding that the EFCC had made a case strong enough to warrant him to
canvass argument to exonerate himself of the charges.
Omatseye subsequently opened his defence
at the end of which both parties on March 14, 2016 adopted their final
written addresses and canvassed summary arguments.
In her final judgement on Friday,
Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia said she was satisfied that the EFCC proved the
allegations in 24 out of the 27 counts against the former NIMASA boss
beyond reasonable doubts.
She affirmed the allegation by the EFCC
that Omatseye awarded various contracts between September 27, 2009 and
February 15, 2010 in excess of the threshold stipulated in a circular
dated March 11, 2009, released by the Bureau of Public Procurement,
which was brought to his attention by a memo from the Ministry of
Transportation.
Justice Ofili-Ajumogibia rejected the
claim by the defence counsel, Edoka Onyeke, that Omatseye was unaware of
the March 11, 2009 circular by the Bureau of Public Procurement,
pointing out that he had admitted knowledge of the new threshold in his
extrajudicial statement made to the EFCC and which was tendered in court
as exhibit PD1.
“Exhibit PD1 was never challenged and
same was admitted and I take it that it was truly made by the defendant.
Not objecting to the statement of confession means admission,” the
judge held, adding that the law was trite that ignorance was not an
excuse under the rule.
The judge pointed out copies of various
letters of contract awards approved by Omatseye which the EFCC tendered
as exhibits, wherein he awarded various contracts in excess of N2.5m
for the procurement of goods and N5m for the procurement of services in
violation of the March 11, 2009 circular.
Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia held, “A calm
reading of the above mentioned exhibits revealed that they are
repetitive awards of contracts for the supply of goods approved by the
defendant in his position as the DG of NIMASA and all the contracts are
above the threshold set out in exhibit PD162 thereby violating the
provisions of Section 16(1)(a) of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
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