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| Haruna Baba Jauro. |
Justice Tijani Ringim of the Federal High Court sitting Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, October 16, 2023, adjourned till November 21, 2023 further proceedings in the trial of a former Acting Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Haruna Baba Jauro, and two others.
Jauro, alongside Dr. Dauda Bitrus
Bawa and a company, Thlumbau Enterprises Limited, are being prosecuted on
19-count charges bordering on stealing and money laundering to the tune of
N304,118, 500( Three Hundred and Four Million One Hundred and Eighteen Thousand
Five Hundred Naira).
At Monday’s proceedings,
the third prosecution witness, PW3, Orji Chukwuma, an investigator with the
EFCC, told the court that he met the defendant when was the Head, Special Task Force
3, EFCC, Lagos.
In
his further testimony, he told the court that “objections were also
taken, in respect to the admissibility of the statements of the
defendant before Honourable Justice Mojisola Olatoregun.
“While in court, my evidence was
recorded. I testified also in a trial-within-trial and was cross-examined by
Olalekan Ojo, SAN.”
When asked by the prosecution
counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, if he also recalled that the said statements of
the first defendant were also admitted as evidence and marked as exhibits Q,
Q1,Q2,Q3 and Q4 at the end of trial-within-trial previously before Justice
Olatoregun , the witness answered in the affirmative.
Oyedepo consequently sought to
tender, in evidence, the proceedings of the trial-within-trial before Justice
Olatoregun that were admitted and marked as exhibits, including the statements
of the first defendant made on January 28, 2016; October 12, 2015; March 17,
2016 and 24 March 24, 2016.
Ojo told the court that he had no
objection to the statements marked as exhibits in the trial-within-trial being
tendered.
Justice Ringim, therefore,
admitted and marked the statements as exhibits Twt1 to Twt5.
When Oyedepo
asked the witness his response to the accusations by the first defendant, that
his statements were not obtained voluntarily, he said the environment in
which the statements were taken was very conducive, adding that “ it
was in a big conference hall. He sat around an oval conference. It is a public
space and anyone can come in at any time . No arms were carried into the
conference hall.
We were both in
company of people, including the defendant’s people and my own team members.
Continuing, Orji said
that: “before taking his statements, cautionary words were administered
to the defendant. To show his understanding, his signature and date
were put down at the beginning and also at the end of his statements. The
statement the defendant made in 2015 was made at the comfort of his office in
NIMASA.”
When
asked by the prosecution counsel to look at exhibits T1 -T5 and also
show the court the cautionary words, the witness read out all the cautionary
words written in the statements to the court. He also showed the court where
the defendant put his name and signature on all the statements in agreement that
he had been cautioned. The witness added that “At the end of the statement
is the endorsement report given to the investigation team. It carries the
attestations summary. It is the practice to put the endorsement on the part
where there are spaces. The statement was not made under duress and was
admitted before Justice Olatoregun.”
Justice
Ringim adjourned to November 21 and 22, 2023 for
continuation of trial.
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