The Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday admitted the
first set of exhibits in the trial of a former Governor of Abia State, Orji
Kalu, who was accused of N2.9bn fraud.
The trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, admitted as the
first exhibit a letter dated October 30, 2006 written by Fidelity Bank Plc in
response to an enquiry by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The letter was admitted along with a bundle of attachments,
which were essentially customers’ information in respect of 23 bank drafts
issued by the defunct Manny Bank, Umuhia branch.
The documents were admitted as exhibits on Wednesday after
Justice Idris delivered a ruling dismissing the objection by the defence
counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Chief Solo Akuma (SAN), challenging the
admissibility of the documents.
Kalu is facing 34 counts alongside Udeh Udeogu and Slok
Nigeria Limited.
At the Wednesday’s proceedings, the first prosecution
witness, Mr. Onovoe Oghenovo, while being led in evidence by the prosecutor,
Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), told the judge that the 23 bank drafts were issued in
favour of Inland Bank Plc from the Fidelity Bank account of the Abia State
Government House.
He listed the individuals who gave instructions for the
issuance of the drafts to include E.I. Okoro, Romanus Madu, Jones Egbuegbu and
M.A. Udoh.
Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, the witness
affirmed that there was nowhere in the exhibits where the names of Kalu, Udeogu
and Slok appeared as the persons who gave instructions for the issuance of the
drafts.
The second witness for the prosecution, Christy Ohiri, also
began her testimony on Wednesday.
The matter was, however, adjourned till Thursday for the
court to rule on the objection by the defence counsel to Ohiri’s competence to
testify, as they argued that her name did not appear among the 19 witnesses
listed by the EFCC.
The EFCC, in the charges, alleged that while he was governor
of Abia State, Kalu siphoned funds running into over N2.9bn from the state’s
treasury.
The ex-governor was accused of diverting state funds into
the account of Slok Nigeria Limited, a company, the EFCC claimed was owned by Kalu and his family members.
Kalu was said to have allegedly diverted the funds in
tranches of N200m, N50m, N200m, N300.8m, N545m, N429m, N288.4m, N190m, N157m,
N152.8m, N100m, N84m and N50m between August 13, 2003 and January 12, 2005. But
the defendants pleaded not guilty to the offences.
By Ramon Oladimeji
