A witness has just told the court that the spokesperson of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh received N400 million from former national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
On Wednesday, January 27, during the examination of Iniobong Effiong, a staff of Diamond Bank and an account officer to Metuh’s company, Destra Investments Limited told the court that a credit of N400 million was made by the former NSA.
Effiong told the court that the balance on the account of Destra Investments Limited before the credit from the NSA on November 24, 2014 was N6,676,576.06.
But after examination of the PW4, Etiaba argued that the document presented by the prosecution as evidence lacks certificate of identification.
Etiaba said the letter submitted by the prosecution cannot be admitted by the court.
He argued the admissibility of a letter from issued by Diamond Bank to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on January 5, 2016.
He said: “In line with Section 104 of the Evidence Act, every letter must be backed by an evidence of payment for the certificate of identification supporting the statement of account.’‘
He also said that for the period in question, a certificate was made over a year after to accompany the letter.
He said the witness in the box is also not the originator of the document. Etiaba therefore rejected the letter supporting the document presented by the prosecution.
But in his objection, the prosecuting counsel, Sylvester Tahir prayed the court to overrule Etiaba’s objection.
Tahir said: “The objection by the defendant is without basis and amounts to a mere scum.”
He further referred the court to a similar objection yesterday, January 26 by the defendant which he recalled was overruled by the court.
But overruling the objection, the judge Okon Abang said Diamond Bank is not a party to the matter before the court.
He said: “For this purpose, Diamond Bank is an agent of the prosecutor.”
He however said that any document presented legally by the prosecution can be tendered through the witness.
He said a letter issued by a private person to a public institution becomes a public document in line with section 103 (b) of the Evidence Act.
He ruled that the documents are admissible to the court as they do not require certification and remains immaterial that the witness is not the originator of the document but a staff of an agent of the prosecutor.
Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned to Thursday, January 28.
The judge had earlier in the day ruled that Metuh must perfect the conditions of bail for him to be released from prison.
At his trial on Monday, January 25, two prosecution witness gave details of how they received millions of naira, changed currencies and made investment for Metuh.
At the beginning of the hearing of the PDP’s spokesman, he was docked at the court, as he was again brought to the court in handcuffs.
Meanwhile, Adeyanju Deji, the PDP’s director of new media, recently accused President Muhammadu Buhari of denying him access to Metuh.(247 Nigeria news update)
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