Lukman Olabiyi

Again, another prosecution witness, Nonye Eghene,  called by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to testify against former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu and two others, before the Federal High Court, Lagos,  over alleged fraud, has  admitted she knew nothing about the charge.

Eghene,  a compliance officer with Diamond Bank Plc, was the 16th  witness called by the EFCC to testify against Kalu, Udeh Jones Udeogu and Slok Nigeria Limited,  in the trial of the trio over the charge preferred against them.

The witness, who was summoned by the court to appear in the matter yesterday, while testifying, tendered a document which contained statement of accounts of Slok, in the bank.

She admitted under cross-examination that transactions on the firm’s statement of accounts were carried out before she joined the bank in 2008.

Again, under cross-examination by Kalu’s lawyer, Chief Gordy Uche (SAN), the witness denied knowledge of a facility of $10 million from US Exim Bank to Slok, which was guaranteed by Diamond bank.

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She was later asked by the lawyer to read out a letter from Diamond bank to the EFCC, which contained details of the transaction.

The witness also read out narratives of transactions carried out in Slok’s loan account with Diamond bank, which indicated how the facility, among others guaranteed by the bank, were being returned.

The witness later admitted that Slok is a high network customer of Diamond bank.

Meanwhile, EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) has indicated intent to close its case against the defendants.

Jacobs told Justice Mohammed Idris that he would like to carry out a thorough examination of everything that has been done by the prosecution, to prove its case against the accused persons before closing his case.

“My Lord, I ought to have closed my case today (yesterday) but, I want to plead that the court give me a day to look into all that we have presented so far, in proving our case against the defendants before doing so,” the silk said.