A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday declined to visit the scene of alleged crime in the trial of a former Chief of Air Staff , Adesola Amosu , over a N 22 . 8bn fraud.
Amosu is charged alongside two other officers of the Air Force : AVM Jacob Adigun and Air Commodore Gbadebo Olugbenga .
Also charged are some companies : Delfina Oil and Gas Ltd. , Mcallan Oil and Gas Ltd. , Hebron Housing and Properties Company Ltd. , Trapezites BDC, and Fonds and Pricey Ltd., being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission .
They were arraigned before Justice Mohammed Idris on June 26 , 2016 , and had pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy , stealing and money laundering.
Idirs had granted them bail in the sum of N500m each, with two sureties each in like sum .
Before the court adjourned on Wednesday , EFCC’s lawyer , Mr . Rotimi Oyedepo , had made an oral application urging the court to visit the “locus in quo ’’( scene of crime ) for the purpose of admitting in evidence various immovable properties allegedly acquired by the accused .
“ The defence counsel, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN ) had opposed the application, arguing that a court ’s visit to a “ locus is not at large . ”
According to him , any visit must be specific , direct and linked to evidences already given in the course of proceedings .
He urged the court to refuse the application.
Ruling on the application on Thursday , Justice Mohammed Idris held that such a visit at this stage of the proceedings was “ premature . ”
“ I find that the circumstances surrounding the application for a locus in quo is immaterial at this stage of the proceedings ; a visit to the locus at this stage is premature .
“ I hereby refuse the application to conduct such a visit at this stage,’’ he said .
SPEECH DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT OPENING OF THE VOLUNTARY ASSETS AND INCOME DECLARATION SCHEME AT THE BANQUET HALL, STATE HOUSE ON THURSDAY JUNE 29, 2017 “When people pay taxes, they pay attention to what government is doing. There’s a level of social and political consciousness which people have when they pay taxes. So when people say that this is tax payers’ money that you are spending in that way, it is evident that it’s because this money is coming from their pockets that they are able to question political authority, question people who say there’re representing them and question government programmes as well”. “According to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the total number of tax payers in Nigeria is just 14 million. Of this number, 96% have their taxes deducted at source from their salaries under the P.A.Y.E system while just 4% comply under...
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