The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) has vowed to ensure that the Chairman, Innoson Motors Nigeria Limited,
Mr Innocent Chukwuma is arrested to face fraud charges in court.
Spokesperson
of the commission, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, made the vow on Wednesday after Justice
Olusola Williams of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, struck
out the case of fraud it instituted against Chukwuma.
The Judge
struck out the case after the EFCC failed to produce Chukwuma in court to face
trial.
Mr Chuwuma
and his company, Innoson Motors Nigeria Limited, were to be arraigned on four
charges of conspiracy to obtain by false pretences, obtaining by false
pretence, stealing and forgery.
The defendants allegedly committed the offences
between 2009 and July 2011 in Lagos.
The
defendants were alleged to have conspired to obtain, by false pretences,
containers of motorcycles, spare parts, and raw materials, property of Guaranty
Trust Bank, from Mitsui OSK Lines Limited, Apapa, Lagos.
They were
also alleged to have fraudulently induced staff of Mitsui OSK and Maersk Line
to deliver to them, via their clearing agents, the goods that were imported
from China in the name of GTB by falsely pretending that they were authorised
by the bank to clear the goods.
The
defendants were said to have forged a bill of lading numbered 598286020 of
Maersk Line Limited and 11007950841 of Mussui O.S.K. Line by knowingly putting
a false GTB stamp and signature of the bank staff.
The alleged
fraud was in order that the forged documents be used or acted upon as genuine
to the prejudice of any person within Lagos or elsewhere.
However,
since the suit was instituted, first before Justice Mojisola Dada of the same
court, the defendant has refused to appear in court to face his trial.
In a short
ruling today, Justice Williams held that it was the responsibility of the EFCC
to produce him in court.
“This court
is not an investigator or a prosecutor. This court cannot waste precious
judicial time prosecuting a matter that is going nowhere.
“This is a
criminal matter that can be instituted anytime the prosecution is ready. The
court hereby strikes out the matter,” the Judge held.
Justice Dada
had, on June 22, 2018, withdrawn from presiding over the matter on the
recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC).
All efforts
by the EFCC to arraign the defendant before Justice Dada on five consecutive
occasions failed despite being declared wanted on May 23, 2018, and also issuance
of a bench warrant by the court.
No comments:
Post a Comment