A prosecution witness, Mr Shehu Shuaibu, on Tuesday told a Federal High Court in Lagos that N800 million was paid from the Ministry of External Affairs into the account of a company, Jointrust Dimension Ltd.
According to NAN reports, the witness, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), gave evidence at the resumed trial of a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, and some others facing N4.6 billion money laundering charge.
Also charged are a former Minister of Finance, Nenadi Usman, a former Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Yusuf Danjuma.
The Company Jointrust Dimension Ltd. is fourth defendant in the case.
The EFCC preferred a 17-count charge of money laundering against the defendants, but they all pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail.
On Tuesday, the prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, continued examination of the third prosecution witness, Shuaibu, after the court rejected an objection to the admissibility of two documents tendered through the witness.
At the last adjourned date, the defence objected to the admissibility of bank document tendered through the witness, on the grounds that they were not legible and public documents.
Justice Rilwan Aikawa, however, rejected the objection on the grounds that even if the witness was not the maker of the said documents, they were got in the course of his investigation and, therefore, admissible.
The court accordingly, admitted and marked the documents as Exhibits 15 and 16.
Oyedepo on Tuesday asked the witness to tell the court his findings from investigations into the matter.
The witness, who first confirmed that Exhibit E8 was the statement of account of Jointrust Dimension Ltd., further told the court that investigations revealed that on Jan. 16, 2015, N800 million was paid into the account of the company.
He told the court that the money came from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), adding that the signatories to the account were one Darbisu and one Benjamin.
According to him, the said signatories were former staff of the MEA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, respectively.
He told the court that on Jan. 13, 2015, N400 million was paid from the MEA into same account of Jointrust.
