Money Laundering: Court admits Oronsaye’s statement in evidence

An Abuja High Court has admitted in evidence, the statement made by former Head of Service of the Federation, Steve Oronsaye to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), during his interogation in a petition on alleged financial crimes filed against him.

The court while admitting the statement as exhibit, however said caution would be applied in attaching probate value to the statement, having not been tendered by the appropriate person in the investigating team of the EFCC.

The trial judge, Justice Olasunmbo Goodluck admitted the statement in her ruling on the objection raised against tendering of the statement by the defence counsel, Abiodun Layonu SAN.

Layonu, who stood for Oronsaye in the trial had vehemently objected to tendering of the statement by the prosecution  witness, Hamma-Adama Bello, an operative of EFCC on the ground that he was not the officer who applied cautionary word on statement.

The grouse of the counsel was that since the sixth prosecution witness – Bello did not counter-sign statement, therefore, he could not be cross-examined on the statement, as such, he was not the appropriate person to tender the document in evidence.

But the prosecution counsel,  Offem Uket, who sought to tender the document through the witness urged Justice Goodluck to allow the witness to tender it on the ground he was a member of the team that investigated the petition and was present when the defendant made the statement.

Uket further informed the court that the standard practice was that only one person administers cautionary word and counter-sign at a time. Thus, even though the PW 6 was present at the time the statement was made, only one signature was necessary on the statement made by the defendant.

Justice Goodluck agreed with the prosecution counsel that the witness can tender the document, but she however noted that caution would be applied by the court in attaching probate value to the statement.

She therefore allowed the witness to tender the document in evidence.

Earlier while being led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Bello informed the court that the embattled former Head of Service sometime in October 7, 2015 remitted N124,350,114.55 to the Treasury Single Account (TSA), and another N39,165,753.42 in November 5, 2015.

Oronsaye was arraigned by the EFCC on a two-counts charge of breach of trust which he allegedly committed between 2013 and 2014 by defrauding the Federal Government of N190m using his position as the then Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Financial Action Taskforce (FATF)