An officer of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr Stephen Fadeyi, on Wednesday testified against a businessman, Bernard Nzenwa, charged with issuance of false document.
Nzenwa is standing trial alongside his company, Omega Maritine and Energy Ltd. on a count-charge of issuance of false document before an Ikeja Special Offences Court.
The defendant had pleaded not guilty to the charge, following his arraignment on Dec. 6, 2022.
The NCS officer was led in evidence by the counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Gabriel Akaogu.
The witness told the court that NCS received a letter of inquiry from the EFCC from the defendant’s company sometime in May 2022.
“If someone was granted a temporary importation permit, the bond serves as a guarantee in lieu of you not being able to pay customs duty, in which case the bank will be able to offset it,” he said.
He further said he was not a party to the transaction in question and that in 2015, the man in charge of bond license and permit seal wrote a letter to Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) to convert the bond to the NCS but the bank replied that the bond did not originate from them.
The witness told the court that the value attached to the bond was about N97.5 million.
“When I got the letter from the EFCC, I decided to write to the bank for more clarification and the bank replied me that the bond did not come from them,” he said.
The defendant identified the copies of the bond diary, the letter his colleague wrote to GTBank in 2015, the response from the bank indicating that the bond did not emanate from them.
He also identified the correspondence between him and the bank in 2022 on the subject matter.
Justice Rahmon Oshodi admitted all the documents into evidence, following no objections from the defence counsel, Mr Godwin Omoaka, (SAN).
Another witness, a former Executive Director with GTBank, Mrs Titi Osuntoki, also testified against the defendant and his company.
The witness identified the said document and refuted the claim by the defence that the signature on the face of it was hers.
“This is certainly not my signature; this is not the way I write and it is a far cry from my signature.
“I certainly did not sign that document and I will gladly give the specimen of my signature.
“Signature was done manually while I was with the bank for 21 years,” she said.
Akaogu, thereafter, applied that the witness to be given a plain A4 paper to append 10 specimens of her signature in open court.
The signature specimen was also admitted in evidence, following no objections from defence.
The judge adjourned the case until June 15 for continuation of trial.
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