Witness narrates how Foundation allegedly obtained N950m fraudulently
14 June 2023 |
3:00 am
A prosecution witness and Managing Director of Ano Farms Limited, Adeniyi Oyewole, yesterday, told a Lagos Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, how he transferred N950 million to the bank account of Young Alhaji Foundation.
![](https://guardian.ng/wp-content/plugins/ventra-lazy-load/images/1x1.trans.gif)
A prosecution witness and Managing Director of Ano Farms Limited, Adeniyi Oyewole, yesterday, told a Lagos Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, how he transferred N950 million to the bank account of Young Alhaji Foundation.
Young Alhaji Foundation, alongside its promoter, Alhaji Usman Abubakar, are standing trial before Justice Mojisola Dada, for allegedly obtaining N950 million from Ano Farms Limited under the false pretence that they had the dollar equivalent.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had slammed a five-count charge against the defendants for allegedly obtaining money by false pretence.
Oyewole, who was led-in-evidence by Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), told the court that he got to know Abubakar, through one Dr. Abu Fawaz, who lives in Ghana, and that he transferred the N950 million to that bank account of Young Alhaji Foundation, which was forwarded to him by Fawaz.
He told the court that their paths crossed when he was in search of foreign exchange “to facilitate importation”. Under cross-examination by the counsel for the first defendant, Olatubosun Olanipekun (SAN), the witness reaffirmed his testimony that Fawaz linked him up with the defendant and that he thereafter transferred the money to him.
He told the court that the account belonged to Young Alhaji Foundation and that he travelled to Ghana to meet Fawaz one-on-one. He said that when the dollar equivalent was not forthcoming, Fawaz told him that Young Alhaji had been instructed to return the funds.
“This I communicated to Young Alhaji over the phone, and to prove that I was in Ghana, I snapped and sent my boarding pass to him via WhatsApp,” he said.
He further told the court that Abubakar told him that he was “expecting the money as debt owed him by an organisation in Australia, that they owed him $12 million for a transaction he did in 2019 and that the balance was going to be paid to him in cash in Guinea Conakry where he has a goldmine”.
Earlier, in the course of the proceeding, the counsel for the second defendant, G.C. Ugwunweze, informed the court of his application challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter.
In his response, Oyedepo, who acknowledged service on the prosecution in the courtroom, urged the court to discountenance it. Earlier, Olanipekun had also argued that the documents given to the defence by the prosecution had no evidence of payment as part of procedures for certification of public documents, in spite of arguments that the EFCC as a government agency could not pay itself for certifying its own documents.
After several arguments from parties, the prosecution obliged him with original copies in open court, as ordered by the court, for him to cross-examine the witness. Further hearing on the matter has been adjourned to June 19, 2023.
×
![](https://guardian.ng/wp-content/themes/guardian2021/img/newsletter_icon.png)
Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox every day of the week. Stay informed with the Guardian’s leading coverage of Nigerian and world news, business, technology and sports.
0 Comments
We will review and take appropriate action.