Justice F. Giwa Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has admitted a fresh exhibit against the Head of Stakeholders Unit of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Emmanuella Eteta Ita and Surestart School Ltd. on an alleged N2 billion fraud.
Justice F. Giwa Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has admitted a fresh exhibit against the Head of Stakeholders Unit of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Emmanuella Eteta Ita and Surestart School Ltd. on an alleged N2 billion fraud.
The court admitted the fresh exhibit on Monday in a trial within trial to determine the admissibility of her statement with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ita and Surestart School Ltd. are on trial for 25 counts bordering on criminal misappropriation, diversion, criminal breach of trust and money laundering to the tune of N2 billion.
Ita is said to be the owner of Surestart School Ltd., which is the second defendant in the suit.
Ita’s counsel, Paul Erokoro, had objected to the admissibility of the statement of the defendant before the court, claiming that it was exacted from her under duress and in the absence of her counsel.
The counsel’s argument came as Ita reportedly volunteered her statement to EFCC's investigators in the presence of Eka Didara-Abasi Akpata, a lawyer from the FIRS who accompanied her to the EFCC office.
On Monday, Justice Ogunbanjo ruled that the defence counsel did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Ita’s statement was not voluntary.
The judge, while citing Section 15 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, further stated that electronic recording of a defendant’s statement was not mandatory, as well as the presence of a defendant’s counsel, hence, the statement was admitted in evidence and marked ‘Exhibit 25.’
An EFCC operative, Ijeoma Matilda, led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, concluded her testimony on the matter.
Matilda told the court that the information provided by System Specs, a Federal Government remittance payment platform through which funds were allegedly funnelled into Surestart School Ltd. between 2017 and 2018, showed the amount was N173,346,391.50.
Matilda said, “We observed that there were transfers to the tune of N145,218,000 from the account of the first defendant to the second defendant, Surestart School Ltd.
“During the reconciliation with the defendant`s account, she could not provide documents to justify the sum of N158 million which is the total money that came to her account.
“And in a bid to explain, she brought copies of receipts she signed which she claimed were receipts for Lomein Express Ltd.
“We contacted the owner of Lomein Express Ltd. who said that the receipts did not emanate from them. She also brought letters of reimbursement; we invited all the companies she mentioned and they all denied that the receipts were from them while other addresses do not exist.”
Ita claimed that she had resigned as the director of Surestart School Ltd., the prosecution witness revealed that documents from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), established that she was the owner of the school.
The prosecution witness further told the court that Ita had refunded about N19.5 million so far, which was made at different dates into the EFCC`s account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The prosecution witness said, “We requested for her salary account with Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
“In the course of analyzing the account, we discovered that around 2016, a huge sum of money was moved into the second defendant’s account and that over N277 million had entered into her salary account apart from her allowances, which were funds for travel allowance and entertainment expenses.”
She also revealed that the frequency of money paid by the first defendant into the second defendant’s account increased from February 2016 with all her salaries being transferred to the second defendant’s account.
Justice Ogunbanjo thereafter adjourned the matter to January 23 and 24.