Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos has
adjourned until January 17, 2020 for continuation of trial in the
alleged N650million fraud case involving Jumoke Akinjide, a former
Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and two other
chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, namely: Senator Ayo
Adeseun and Olanrewaju Otiti
The trio are standing trial on an amended 24-count charge, bordering on
money laundering to the tune of N650million brought against them by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Akinjide and her co-defendants were arraigned on January 16, 2018 before
Justice Muslim Hassan on a 24-count charge to which they pleaded not
guilty. However, following an application filed by the defendants, the
case was subsequently transferred to Justice Aneke’s court.
At today’s sitting, the first prosecution witness (PW1), Kehinde
Adeniyi, Head of Operations, Fidelity Bank, Bodija Branch, Ibadan, Oyo
State told the court under cross-examination by counsel to the first
defendant, Bolaji Ayorinde, SAN, that she recollect the events of March
25, 2015 when the defendants allegedly cashed the said sum from the
bank, as recorded in her written statement.
The defence counsel sought to impress it on the witness that the March
25, 2015 date did not tally with a date she gave in her testimony in
court and moved to tender the written statement of the witness as
exhibit, which the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo countered for
failing the test of Section 232 of the Evidence Act, which requires the
defence counsel to have confronted the witness with the contradicting
dates and ask for clarification before seeking to tender the documents.
Consequently, Justice Aneke adjourned the matter until Friday, January
17, 2020 for ruling and continuation of trial.