before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Special Offences Court sitting in
Ikeja, Lagos with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,
presenting its first witness, Hycenth Obinna, an investigator with the
Commission.
Amusan, who was first arraigned alongside his company in November 2019,
is standing trial for allegedly defrauding Nkasi Onyung, Managing
Director, Energy Limited.
During today’s proceedings, the witness narrated how Onyung had
approached the Commission after she was defrauded by Amusan.
The petitioner alleged that her company had issued the sum of N260
million to Amusan’s company for the purchase of 3, 250litres of diesel
(AGO), which was never delivered.
Led in evidence by Chikezie Edozie, Obinna told the Court that Onyung
petitioned the EFCC accusing Amusan of the fraud.
He said: “In the course of investigation, we discovered that the
defendant had several other cases with the Commission
“We also found out that he was about to take off from the country.
“So, I visited the office of the defendant in Victoria Island, Lagos
along with a colleague in my Team and arrested him.
“We brought him to our office, where we read the petition to him.
“He confessed that he was aware of the transaction in question.
“We then took his statement under caution after we had interviewed him.
“He stated that everything in the statement was true.”
Testifying further, Obinna told the Court that letters were written to
Fidelity Bank for the bank statements of the petitioner and the
defendant, as the transactions were carried out through the bank.
He stated that forensic analysis confirmed that the sum of N240 million
was, indeed, released for the transaction, but the defendant, rather
than use it to supply the product requested, moved the money to his own
account.
“He told us that he used the money as an equity,” Obinna said.
According to the witness, Amusan later promised to pay back the money.
He said: “He brought back the first N100 million, which was later
released to the complainant; then, another N60 million, which was also
registered in the exhibit register and released on bond to the
complainant; and then another N5 million, totalling N165 million out of
the N260 million.
“After that, he jumped bail, till another team investigating another
case arrested him for other alleged fraud.
“That was when we took him up again and charged him with fraud, as all
the promises to pay back did not yield anything.”
The case was adjourned till January 20, 2020.