Akinwande Adewale Akinseye, the first prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of a Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) director, James Nolan, told the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday that a new generation bank supplied the company statement of accounts to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on demand.

He made the remark during cross-examination by the defence counsel led by Paul Erokoro (SAN).

Akinseye, a staff of the bank in question, said he did not inform the anti-graft agency about the matter, but the EFCC, rather, contacted his bank on it.

“The EFCC contacted my bank about this matter. My bank supplied the statements of P&ID Nigeria Ltd to EFCC.

“If my bank has found any criminal observation on the customer’s account, the bank would have reported to the EFCC,” he said.

When asked how he got to know, he said he was notified by a member of the Compliance Team of the bank and he also saw the account statements at the EFCC office.

“I am not a member of Compliance Team, but an operative of EFCC, whose name I cannot recall now, presented the account documents of P&ID Nigeria Ltd. as provided by my bank to them.

“They presented the statements to me because I was being asked some questions on the accounts based on the information provided,” he added.

READ ALSO: Hate speech: NBC urges FG to promote news literacy, professional journalism

Akinseye, who confirmed the documents when presented with the certified true copies, said the bank statements were presently with the Commission.

“I recognise the names and signatures of the cover letter of the documents. The letter emanated from the bank.

“These are members of the bank Compliance Team. I know them and I have worked with them,” he said.

Erokoro, however, applied to tender the bank statements and the attached documents in evidence.

The EFCC lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, did not object to the application.

Justice Okon Abang admitted the letter dated 26 Aug. 2019 which the bank sent to EFCC on the three account numbers of P&ID Nigeria Ltd and attached with a statement of accounts and marked them as exhibits.

According to the witness, the exhibits include the accounts of P&ID Nigeria Ltd, the application to open account, mandate and resolution, key contact persons, references, mandate act, domiciliary account opening instructions, particulars of directors, board resolution, nominating parties to execute agreements on behalf of the company, resident permit applications, certificate of incorporation, memorandum of article of association and bank account statements, among others.

Akinyese said from the documents he saw, the accounts were properly opened.

“The resident permit applications are two documents with receipts and temporary cards for me James Richard Nolan and Hitchcock Neil.

“The date of payment for resident permits of Nolan on the receipt is Sept. 27, 2015 while the date for payment of Hitchcock is dated Feb. 10, 2006, to the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” he told the court.

The witness said although no document stated the exact day the account was created, “the date on the resolution to open the account and the date of first transactions are August 2006.”

Justice Abang later adjourned the trial till December 11 to enable the court to attend to other matters on the cause list.  (NAN)

Vanguard Nigeria News