Alleged N650m Fraud: EFCC Refutes Claim Of Torturing Akinjide, Others

An operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Usman Zakari has told a Federal High Court in Lagos that the commission does not torture suspects.

Zakari was testifying in a trial within trial ordered by the court to determine if statements made by former Federal Capital Territory Minister Jumoke Akinjide and her co-defendants were voluntary.

At the last sitting of the court, Akinjide had disowned five extrajudicial statements which she allegedly made at the EFCC.

The other defendants – a former Senator representing Oyo Central Senatorial District Ayo Adeseun, and a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader in Oyo State Chief Olarenwaju Otiti – also claimed they did not make their statements voluntarily.

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Akinjide’s lawyer, Olusegun Williams had also opposed moves by the EFCC’s counsel Rotimi Oyedepo to tender the statements in evidence on the basis that they were obtained under duress.

During the proceedings, on Monday, the EFCC operative insisted that the defendants were not forced to make their statements. He also added that some of the statements were made willingly in the presence of their lawyers.

Justice Hassan has adjourned until Tuesday for continuation of cross-examination of the EFCC witness.

The EFCC had charged the defendants with conspiring to directly take possession of N650million, which they reasonably ought to have known was part of proceeds of an unlawful act, and without going through a financial institution.

The commission said the defendants allegedly received the money ahead of the 2015 general elections,from former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, who was named in the charge as being at large.

The defendants however pleaded not guilty to the charges.