ASHENEWS reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday presented two additional witnesses in the ongoing trial of one Bernard Okechukwu Nzenwa.
The witnesses included Stephen Fadeyi, an official of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, and Titi Osuntoki, a former Executive Director with Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB.
Nzenwa is being tried on a one-count charge bordering on the issuance of false documents before Justice R.A. Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja.
The count reads: “Bernard Okechukwu Nzenwa, Omega Maritime and Energy Limited, and Dr. Oluchi Nzenwa, (now at large), some time on the 9th March 2011, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, issued a false document titled, “BOND FOR THE RE-EXPORTATION OF IMPORTED GOODS DELIVERED WITHOUT PAYMENT OF IMPORT DUTIES.”
The defendant had pleaded not guilty to the charge when he was arraigned on December 6, 2022.
According to a statement by the EFCC, both witnesses had testified against the accused person concerning the bond valued at N97,480,930 said to have been issued by GT Bank.
“In 2015, the man in charge of bond license and permit seal wrote a letter to the bank to convert the bond to the Nigerian Customs Service, but the bank replied that the bond did not originate from the bank,” one of the witnesses said.
“This is certainly not my signature; this is not the way I write; it is a far cry from my signature; I certainly didn’t sign that document,” another said regarding the signature on the bond document said to have emanated from GTB.
According to the prosecution, Nzenwa’s offense is contrary to Section 360(1)(b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.
