By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Senior Correspondent
An operative with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and prosecution witness, Usman Zakari, on Monday told a Federal High Court in Lagos presided over by Justice Muslim Sule Hassan that the Commission investigates only economic and financial crimes and prosecute suspects; and therefore does not investigate violent crimes.
He maintained that the Commission has no torture chamber and does not torture suspects to obtain statements from them
Zakari who is the head of the Commission’s Special Task Force 4 was giving evidence in a trial within trial to ascertain if the statements obtained by the Commission from former Federal Capital Territory minister Ms Jumoke Akinjide and her co-accused were voluntarily made by them or not.
Akinjide had disowned five extrajudicial statements which she was allegedly said to have made at the EFCC.
In the same vain, the other defendants – Senator Ayo Adeseun, a former Senator representing Oyo Central Senatorial District, and Chief Olarenwaju Otiti, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Oyo State also claimed that they did not make their statements voluntarily.
During the trial of the accused persons, Akinjide’s counsel Mr. Olusegun Williams had opposed moves by EFCC’s counsel Rotimi Oyedepo to tender the statements in evidence on the grounds that they were obtained under duress.
This objection warranted Justice Hassan to order for trial within trial to determine whether the statements were voluntarily made by the accused or not.
Led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel Nnaemeka Omenwa, who stood in for Oyedepo, Zakari testified that the defendants were not forced to make a statement.
He testified that when Adeseun reported at the commission on May 11, 2016, he offered to make a statement only in his lawyer’s presence.
“We had to wait for his lawyer to come before he made statements. The following day, the second defendant made a statement voluntarily in the presence of his lawyer,” Zakari said.
According to the witness, Adeseun was granted bail but he could not fulfill the conditions, following which EFCC obtained a remand order from a Magisrate Court.
“At the expiration of the remand warrant, he was released to his nephew, a pharmacist who bore the same surname,” the witness further said.
As regards Otiti, Zakari said she reported at EFCC on December 1, 2016, during which she was interviewed and cautioned.
“After the interview, she volunteered her statement in the presence of her friend. She was granted bail on self-cognisance. She asked to be allowed to go home so that she could come up with a list of people she disbursed part of the N650million to. She was not detained.
“In her next reporting date, she came with a list of beneficiaries to whom she disbursed over N90million.
“The second and third defendants’ statements were devoid of any promise, threat or duress.
“The statements were made in the Conference room. It is a big hall, not a torture chamber. We do not torture, we do not threaten. We investigate economic and financial crimes, not violent crimes,” Zakari stated.
The witness also said Adeseun submitted a list of people he shared money to out of the money he received from Akinjide.
“As far as I can say, the second and third defendants volunteered their statements willingly,” the witness said.
The defendants are facing trial for allegedly conspiring to directly take possession of N650 million which they reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds from an unlawful act without going through a financial institution. They are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The commission averred that the defendants allegedly received the said money former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, (named in the charge as being at large), ahead of the 2015 general elections.
The alleged offence contravenes the Money Laundering Act.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned on January 16.
The matter continues on Tuesday for continuation of cross-examination of the witness.
