Lagos Appeal Court Acquits Ex-NIMASA Boss Akpobolokemi Of N754.8m Fraud
LAGOS JUNE 15TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The Court of Appeal Lagos Division has discharged and acquitted a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Patrick Akpobolokemi, of a N754.8m fraud charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Friday, via zoom, the three-member panel of the appellate court upheld Akpobolokemi’s appeal, set aside the ruling of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, and quashed all 12 counts of conspiracy, stealing, and forgery filed by the EFCC.
The Justices, ruled that “The prosecution failed to establish any link between the appellant and the alleged fraudulent transactions.”
The EFCC had alleged that Akpobolokemi was involved in illegal withdrawals and transfers from the account of the Voluntary International Maritime Organisation Member State Audit Scheme (VIMSAS) Committee.
However, the Court of Appeal found no evidence connecting him to the committee’s finances.
“The appellant was not a member of the VIMSAS Committee, nor was he a signatory to any of the accounts involved.
“There is no evidence that he authorised or approved any withdrawal instructions or internal memos related to the transactions in question,” the court held.
He was originally arraigned with several others, but the charges were later amended to include only him and one other defendant.
The lower court had ruled that a prima facie case had been established and ordered the former NIMASA boss and his co-defendant to open their defence.
Akpobolokemi’s legal team, led by Collins Ogbonna and Kunle Gbolahan, had challenged the decision of Justice Raliatu Adebiyi of the Lagos High Court, which had earlier dismissed Akpobolokemi’s no-case submission.
They argued that the EFCC failed to link him to any wrongdoing and relied on inadmissible evidence and unreliable witness testimonies, including those of PW9, PW10, and PW11, as well as Exhibits P59–P61.
The justices held that some of the EFCC’s key pieces of evidence, including testimonies from prosecution witnesses PW9, PW10, and PW11, as well as Exhibits P59–P61, were inadmissible.
Citing the principle that “a court must act only on evidence admissible in law,” the appellate court struck out the charges and acquitted Akpobolokemi.
“A trial court is bound by the law of evidence and cannot act on inadmissible material, even where no objection is raised,” the court ruled.
The court ruled that a trial court cannot rely on inadmissible evidence even if no objection is raised during trial and concluded that such evidence should have been excluded.
“The evidence relied upon by the lower court ought to have been expunged from the record,” the court held.
At the trial court, defence counsel had insisted that the EFCC failed to prove its case, while the commission, through its counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, (SAN), maintained that the evidence including testimony from 12 witnesses supported the charges.
But the Court of Appeal disagreed, concluding that the evidence failed to meet the legal threshold for criminal conviction.
“A court must act only on evidence that is admissible in law,” the justices held, adding that the failure to establish a direct link between the defendant and the alleged crime was fatal to the prosecution’s case.
Vanguard
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Posted by News Rangers
on Jun 15 2025. Filed under National.
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