Court Rules On Admissibility Of Exhibit Against Uzor Kalu Today Over N3.2bn Fraud
Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos will on Tuesday February 20 decided whether or not to admit as exhibit a document titled, “Financial Regulations of Abia State sought to be tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against a former governor of the State, Orji Uzor Kalu.
The judge fixed the date after the defence team led by Chief Awa Kalu (SAN) opposed to the admissibility of a document and another one containing details of salaries paid to Dr. Kalu while in office as Abia state governor.
The lawyer argued that apart from not being certified, the documents were not front- loaded by the prosecution as mandated by Section 379 (1) (a) (5) of the Evidence Act.
He further argued that there was also an indication that the document are not from Abia state government as the name of one, Ibe M. I. was inscribed on one of them.
He maintained that there was no evidence that the document was gazetted by the government.
On the second document, the senior lawyer argued that the source of the extracts contained in it was unknown.
According to him, the only evidence to show any payment of salary is the pay slip or a voucher. They urged the court not to admit the two documents as exhibits.
In his reply, EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), while urging the court to admit the documents said the Financial Regulations requires no certification because it is a government publication. He further claimed that the document was published by the Abia State Head of Service.
On the second document, Jacobs argued that the objections raised by the defence was largely on the weight to be attached to it by the court and not really on its admissibility.
The EFCC is prosecuting Kalu, his Commissioner for Finance, Udeh Jones Udeogu, and his company, Slok Nigeria Limited on an amended 34 count charge of N3.2 billion fraud.
They were alleged to have used the following banks to perpetrate the alleged fraud, Manny Bank, Spring Bank Plc,( now Heritage Bank), the defunct Standard Trust Bank, now United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and Fin Land Bank, now First City Monument Bank (FCMB).
They however all pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Earlier during the proceedings, the Accountant General of Abia State, Gabriel Chinenye Onyendilefu, yesterday told the court that no contract was awarded to Slok Nigeria Limited by the state government while former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu was at the helm of affairs.
Onyendilefu who was also a permanent secretary in the state made the disclosure while testifying in the on-going trial of Dr. Kalu and two others over alleged fraud.
While responding to a question from the EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), on the issue of award of contract to the company, the witness disclosed that there was no record of any award of contract to Slok Nigeria Limited by Abia state government between 1999 and 2007.
He said: “Though I was not in charge then, but the search conducted revealed that no contract was awarded to Slok Nigeria Limited and no payment was also made to the company between 1999 and 2007”.
Explaining the reason behind his continuous stay in service since 2010 when he became the Accountant General of Abia State, Onyendilefu said, “I joined the then Imo state civil service on September 10, 1980 and I became the Accountant General of Abia state on August 30, 2010. Statutorily, I was supposed to retire in 2015 but the governor extended it by three years. It will expire by September this year”.
