It was revelation time, Thursday, at a Lagos High Court in Igbosere, Lagos, on how the erstwhile Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Patrick Akpobolokemi used the account of a staff of the Niger Delta University to divert over N11.3 bn.
Orji Chukwuma, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who was a witness before Justice Raliat Adebiyi on the case of pervasion of justice and offering gratification to public officer against, preferred against Akpobolokemi’s lawyer, Joseph Nwobike, (SAN), said that Simon Adomene a staff of the Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State laundered the money on behalf of the former Director-General of NAMISA
He testified as the third prosecution witness in the trial Nwobike.
Nwobike is facing a five-count charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, bribery, corruption and offering gratification to a public official, a charge he denied.
Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, Chukwuma said in 2015, the commission received intelligence on “a monumental fraud perpetrated in NIMASA.”
“In the course of the investigation, it was revealed that one John Simon Adomene, a staff of Niger Delta University was used by the DG of NIMASA, Dr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, to perpetrate this fraud.
“Subsequently, efforts were made to trace accounts linked to John Adomene and companies linked with him,” he said.
He listed the companies to include Wabod, Global Resources Limited, Gokiad Marine Services and Boloberi Properties and Estate Limited.
“We traced billions of naira in accounts and properties to these companies which were merely fronts for Dr. Akpobolokemi,” Chukwuma alleged
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