Judge cautions EFCC against weak prosecution

Justice Lateefat Okunnu of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja has cautioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against engaging in prosecution that amounts to “a waste of taxpayers’ money”. Delivering judgment on Wednesday on a fraud charge against a clearing agent, Caleb Onwudinjo, Okunnu urged EFCC to study thoroughly petitions of complainants before pressing charges against suspects.
The judge, who acquitted Onwudinjo of the six counts instituted against him, noted that the charge emanated from an “underhand dealing” of which the complainant, Mrs. Ifeoma Okereke,   was “part and parcel”.
The judge said the EFCC failed to investigate thoroughly the claim by Okereke, an employee of Keystone Bank Plc, before taking the matter to court.
She described Onwudinjo’s prosecution as “a waste of tax payers money”, adding that he ought to be compensated for his travail.
She said, “The supposed victim was part and parcel of the underhand dealings because she was told from the beginning the processes involved in the transaction. The payments she made were not official payments.
“She was aware that any money involved in such transactions ought to be paid into the account of the Nigerian Customs Services with her bank.”
The EFCC had on December 16, 2009 charged Onwudinjo with obtaining N2.7m from Okereke under the guise of helping her to pay for a container.
The container, billed for auctioning by the Nigerian Customs Services at Ikorodu Terminal, contained a used Honda Accord car and other items.
Okereke had complained to the anti-graft agency that Onwudinjo swindled her by making a false claim regarding the container.
However, Onwudinjo testified that custom officers collected the money she paid as bribe to give her an edge over other bidders.
He had maintained that he gave N2.6m to a retired officer, Pius Abayomi, who facilitated the inspection of nine containers by the complainant to give her an edge in the bid.
The defendant had claimed that the transaction failed following the transfer of some of the officers and Okereke started demanding a refund of her money.
Okunnu said Okereke’s testimony was “inconsistent, full of half-truths and blatant lies, aimed at misleading the court”.
The Judge said, “She had claimed that she paid N5m to the defendant only to admit that the amount involved in the transaction was N2.7m when she was confronted with documentary evidence.”