Skip to main content

Don't rejoice, it is not over yet, EFCC informs Innoson Motors

Despite court ruling, 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Justice Dada had, on June 22, 2018, withdrawn from presiding over the matter on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC).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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stop inflicting economic hardship on Ebonyians with tax demands, ex-SSG implores Umahi

Former Secretary to the State Government of Ebonyi State, Professor Benard Odoh, has implored the Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, to desist from inflicting economic hardship on Ebonyians. In an open letter he made available to Paulokahblog Friday morning, Odoh said that, "as a way of cushioning the devastating effects of the covid-19 pandemic on Ebonyi’s struggling economy, there is urgent need to jettison the collection of tenement rates/ground rents from landlords, excessive/forceful drive for quarry haulage levies and waiving of personal income taxes".  Odoh regretted that, despite the efforts of the state government in policing its borders against the COVID-19 pandemic, Ebonyi State, as of May 21, has recorded 13 cases and expressed hope that the situation would not get worse in the state in particular and Nigeria in general, even as he pledged support for the state government in ensuring that the active cases are managed successfully "to t...

Don't quit by Edgar Albert Guest

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, when the road you're trudging seems all uphill, when the funds are low and the debts are high, and you want to smile but you have to sigh, when care is pressing you down a bit - rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns. As everyone of us sometimes learns. And many a fellow turns about when he might have won had he stuck it out. Don't give up though the pace seems slow - you may succeed with another blow. Often the goal is nearer than it seems to a faint and faltering man; Often the struggler has given up when he might have captured the victor's cup; and he learned too late when the night came down, how close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out - the silver tint of the clouds of doubt, and when you never can tell how close you are, it may be near when it seems afar; so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit - it's when things seem...

Why Ebonyi State is absent at national sports festival- Umahi

The Ebonyi Government on Saturday gave reasons for the non participation of its athletes at the on-going National Sports Festival (NSF) in Abuja. Mr Charles Akpuenika, the state’s Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the government was concentrating on locally-organised sporting events to unearth hidden talents. Akpuenika noted that the government organised several sporting events in 2018 as the talents discovered would be groomed to equitably represent the state in zonal and national competitions. “We have organised the inaugural David Umahi Tertiary Institutions Games (DUMTIGA) where several talents were discovered from the participating tertiary institutions in the state. “The state also organised the David Umahi Para-military games where security agencies to promote unity among the agencies and ensure the fitness of their officers. “The school sports competition which was last organised in 2008 is presentl...