Anonymous Source Provided Indicting Documents Against Nwoboshi – Witness
A prosecution witness in the on- going trial of Senator representing Delta North in the National Assembly, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi on Tuesday told a Federal High Court in Lagos that an anonymous source provided the documents leading to the indictment of the politician.
The witness, Prince Kpokpogri, who claimed to be Anti-Corruption activist, and Real Estate Manager added that after he got the documents he wrote a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the embattled Senator.
Senator Nwaoboshi, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain, was arraigned alongside two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke on a two-count charge of money laundering and fraud.
The EFCC, in the charges, claimed that Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Limited purchased a property known as Guinea House, Marine Road, Apapa, Lagos for N805m between May and June 2014.
The anti-graft agency claimed that N322m out of the N805m, which Nwaoboshi and the firm paid for the property, was part of proceeds of “an unlawful act, to wit: fraud.”
The EFCC alleged that the N322m was transferred to the vendor of the property on the order of Suiming Electricals Limited.
Suiming Electricals Limited was accused of aiding Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Limited to commit money laundering on or about May 14, 2014.
The prosecution said the defendants acted contrary to sections 18(a) and15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 and are liable to punishment under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
All the accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
During Tuesday proceedings, the witness told the court that sometime in 2016, he received an anonymous call, in which the caller informed him that he had some document for him, which he left in front of his office door.
Kpokpogri further testified that when he saw the document, he perused it carefully and then wrote to the EFCC for further investigation
When shown the letter, he confirmed it as same letter, and the court admitted and marked it as exhibit P1.
After tendering exhibit P1 before the court, prosecution lead by Wemimo Ogunde (SAN) informed the court that he was done with his first witness.
While being cross examination by defence counsel, Emmanuel Kachukwu (SAN), the witness rebutted the assertion that he had a duty not to expose individuals to unfounded allegations of crime.
He also told the court that he valued the property at N4.5billion through the document, as well as through the anonymous caller, adding that he also visited the property
Kpokpogri also said that he was aware that the said property was sold by the Delta State Government.
He testified that, “I wrote to the office of the then Secretary to State Government (SSG), but there was no response, so I simply sent the petition to the EFCC for them to carry out their investigations,”
Justice Aneke has adjourned the case until Nov. 26 for continuation of trial.
