A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, has explained the circumstances surrounding the certification of extracts from a Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting linked to the controversial Mambilla Power Project contract.
The development was disclosed on Wednesday during proceedings before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja, in the trial of Agunloye over the alleged fraudulent award of the Mambilla Power Project contract valued at $6 billion.
Agunloye is facing a seven-count amended charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, bordering on alleged official corruption and the award of the project to Sunrise Power Transmission Company Limited.
The witness, Iliya John Iyakwari, an Assistant Director of Legal in the Federal Ministry of Justice who is currently serving as an Assistant Legal Adviser in the Federal Ministry of Power, testified during cross-examination by defence counsel, Adeola Adedipe, SAN.
According to Iyakwari, the EFCC requested certified extracts of the minutes of the FEC meeting held on May 21, 2003 in July 2023, but the documents initially forwarded to the Commission were not certified.
The EFCC later discovered the documents were not certified and returned them to the ministry.
“It was after it was received by EFCC in July 2023 that they realised that the extract was not certified. So, in January 2024, a staff of the EFCC brought back the exhibit to my legal adviser and reminded my director that it was not certified,” Iyakwari said.
Iyakwari
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