Justice Modupe Osho Adebiyi of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Wednesday ruled that the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Duport Midstream Company Limited, Mr. Akintoye Akindele; Three documents were admitted in the bribery trial.
The documents containing the petition by Summit Oil International Ltd. to the Inspector General of Police (IG), Akindele's original statement to the police and the complaint filed in the Nasarawa State High Court were admitted and marked as exhibits A2, A3 and A4. marked. Each.
The court admitted the document during the resumption of cross-examination of the first prosecution witness (PW1), Superintendent of Police (SP) Mr. Ibrahim Ezekiel Sini.
Recall that the judge adjourned on February 28 for the continuation of cross-examination of witnesses by the defendant's lawyer, Mrs. Funmi Quadri (San State).
Akindele is on trial on one count of bribing a police official to obstruct an investigation for allegedly misappropriating the sum of $5,636,397.01 belonging to Summit Oil International Ltd.
At Wednesday's proceedings, the senior lawyer confronted the witness with a petition showing that, according to the petitioner, his client's debt was $5.6 million and N73 million. While $5.6 million is said to be unpaid debt, N73 million is said to be redemption costs.
She claimed that Mr. Sini and his team met with the defendant several times while in custody and that on one occasion he was asked how he intended to settle his debt to Summit Oil.
The witness also denied that the defendant used a police-owned computer to write a letter promising to repay a debt.
Mrs. Quadri then presented the original statement submitted by Mr. Akindele to the IG, in which the defendant stated that the money transferred to the account provided by Mr. He claimed that it was to show his willingness to pay a portion of the million naira. (Summit Oil International Limited).
According to him, the N50 million he transferred to Brisdon Nigeria Limited (the account is said to have been provided by Sini) is ready to pay the alleged debt of N5.6 million and N73 million. This was to show that.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sini denied that police had set up a separate committee to investigate the alleged N50 million bribe after his accomplices were discovered. According to the witness, “we cannot be judges in our own cases” because it was he who accused Mr. Akindele of bribery.
At the end of the cross-examination, Justice Osho-Adebiyi adjourned the case until April 18 for the police to call further witnesses.
The one count charge marked CR/595/2023 reads as follows:
“You are Akintoye Akindele, male, 49 years old, from August 5th to 9th, 2023 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this court, during investigation by SP Ibrahim Ezekiel, at D2 Mambila Close Osborne, Ikoyi, Lagos State. I am the MD/CEO of Duport Midstream Company Limited of D2 Mambilla Close Osborne Estate in the Estate” Summit Oil International Ltd. filed with the Police FIB Inspector General for alleged misappropriation of a total of 5,636,397.01 million US dollars and 73,543,763.25 Naira. You have offered N150,000,000 (150,000,000 Naira) assistance to Sini and his team regarding their petition. And with the purpose of escaping you abroad and writing a report favorable to you, he, a public servant, paid SP Ibrahim Sini a portion of his Fifty Million Naira (50 Million Naira), whereby you committed a crime punishable under Article 2; Article 118 of the Penal Code
