By Jerry Uwah
Lagos
The absence of Festus Keyamo, the prosecutor representing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), truncated the scheduled trial of an ex-Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), over an alleged fraud of N47.6 billion.
Keyamo wrote to the Federal High Court in Lagos, where the trial is taking place, to ask for an adjournment on the grounds that his main witness was not available for yesterday.
Consequently, the trial judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, adjourned the case till December 13 and 14, 2016, for trial.
The EFCC had on April 18, 2016 arraigned Tompolo in absentia on 22 counts of alleged N47.6 billion fraud.
Also arraigned in absentia in relation to the alleged fraud were Igo, Julius, Victor, Norbert, Emmanuel and Clement, six brothers of a former director-general of the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi.
Tompolo, Igo, Julius, Victor, Norbert, Emmanuel and Clement were declared as being “now at large” when the charges were read before Justice Buba on April 18.
The charges bordered on conspiracy, advance fee fraud and money laundering.
But the defendants who were in court pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
At the hearing yesterday, one of the defence counsel, Mr. Oyesoji Oyeleke, informed the court of a preliminary objection he filed on behalf of his client challenging the competence of the charges.
Oyeleke is contending that the prosecution had failed to depose to an affidavit stating that it had concluded its investigation before filing the charges.
For this failure, he is urging the court to strike out the 22 counts filed by the EFCC against his client.
Another defence counsel, Mr. Sylvester Ekweme, representing one of Akpobolokemi’s brothers, Clement, also informed the court of his client’s bail application pending to be heard.
Ekweme said his client had been in detention since April.
Justice Buba adjourned till November 10, 2016, to take the two pending applications.
Among other things, the EFCC alleged that the defendants conspired among themselves to defraud the federal government between December 2, 2014 and April 10, 2015, by inducing the federal government to deliver an aggregate sum of N11.9 billion to them.