Ex-nimasa dg akplokemi acquitted by accusations of fraud n754.8 m-thage

By Ayo Kehinde

The Lagos division of the Court of Appeal has downloaded and absolutely a former general manager of the Agency for the Maritime Administration and Nigerian security (Nimasa), Patrick Akpolokemi, of alleged fraud of N754.8 million.

On Friday, in a unanimous sentence, the Court of Appeal canceled the accusation of 12 counts presented against Akpolokemi by the Commission for economic and financial crimes (EFCC) and put aside the judgment of the high court of Ikeja which rejected its submission without a case.

The anti-Innesto agency had accused conspiracy, theft and falsification in relation to alleged illegal transfers from the report of the Vimsas committee.

At the lower court, judge Raliatu Adbiyi had established that the EFCC had established a first Facie case on some of the counts and ordered Akplokemi and his co-accused to open their defense.

Akpolokemi, through his lawyers Collins Ogbonna and Kunle Gbolahan, appealed to the sentence, claiming that the EFCC was unable to connect it to any offense and rely on inadmissible tests and testimonies of unreliable witnesses, including those of PW9, PW10 and PW11, as well as to show P59 – P61.

Judgment on Friday, the Court of Appeal declared that Akpololokemi was neither a member of the Vimsas Committee nor signatory of the Committee’s accounts;

Believing that the applicant has not signed or approved any internal withdrawal or memo instruction relating to the alleged fraudulent transfers, the appeal court considered that a test court cannot rely on inadmissible evidence even if no objection is raised during the process and concluded that these evidence should have been excluded.

Citing the principle according to which “a court must act only on eligible tests in law”, the Court of Appeal has eliminated the accusations and fulfilled Akpololkemi.

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