The prosecution in Retired Air Vice Marshal Alkali Mawu’s case closed the matter on Wednesday.
Mawu was former Air Officer Training Command and member of Committee for Procurement under the Ministry of Defence.
He was arraigned on June 21 before Justice Salisu Garba on a three-count charge of bribery.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged that Mawu collected cash gift in the sum of N5.9 million for the purchase of a Range Rover Evoque and a cash gift of 300,000 U.S. dollars.
He was also alleged to have collected two vehicles (Ford Expedition SUV and Jaguar XF Saloon) valued at N15 million and N12 million respectively from Societe D’ Equipments Internationaux Nigeria Limited, a contractor with the Nigerian Air Force.
At the resumed hearing before Justice Salisu Garba of FCT High Court, the prosecution brought the last two witnesses to testify and tender documents in evidence.
The 3rd witness, Martins Emeto, the manager of IT operations with the Zenith Bank said sometime in January, the bank received a letter from EFCC requesting for the account details of Kalif fertiliser company ltd.
He said that the company had a domiciliary account with the bank and that the information processed in their unit was accurate and reliable.
He, however, added that Mawu was not signatory to the account or director of the company which maintained the account with the bank.
The last witness was Junaed Sa’id, an officer of the EFCC and member of the team that carried out the investigation on Mawu.
He said the Federal Government had set up a committee to carry out audit on defence equipment procurement.
He explained that the committee consist of both serving and retired military officers and representatives from EFCC.
The witness noted that in carrying out this function, the committee discovered that there were several suspicious payments made to individuals and several companies among which was Societe D’ Equipments Internationaux Nigeria Ltd.
He said the committee recommended that further investigation be carried out and subsequently the committee was assigned to do just that.
The witness said payments were made based on the authorisation of Mr Hama
Abubakar, the managing director of Societe.
He said the payments were made to several officers of the military and other companies among which was Kalif Fertilizer Company and Coscharis motors.
He added that a letter was forwarded to the Corporate Affairs Commission to furnish the committee with the details of the company.
Sa’id said investigation revealed that the family members of the defendants were the directors of Kalif.
He said the Nigeria Air Force also furnished the committee with the contract award letters which were signed by Mawu.
The witness said Hama Abubakar was called on phone and asked why the payments were made, but he was unable to give any explanation, so he was invited.
He told the court that Abubakar could not honour the invitation because he was not in Nigeria, he is a Nigerien and the defendant was then invited.
The witness said the defendant was asked to state his reasons for receiving the car gift and others.
During cross examination by Joesph Daudu, counsel to the defendant, the witness said different teams could come together to investigate a suspect and any member could record the suspect’s statements.
He said that the statements were not recorded in video and he did not know whether the delivery notes were from the Nigeria Air Force.
The witness said that the statement he had was the one he recorded and that he was not aware that the defendant disclosed that what they were doing was of serious national security.
The prosecuting counsel, Mr Slyvanus Tahir, then called four witnesses to testify and tendered documents in evidence, after which closed the case.
The Judge, Justice Salisu Garba, after the prosecution informed the court that he had closed the case, adjourned until Feb. 22 for defence to open his case. (NAN)
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