APPEAL COURT CLEARS EX-NIMASA DG AKPOBOLOKEMI OF N754.8M FRAUD CHARGES
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Agency report
The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, has discharged and acquitted former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, of the ₦754.8 million fraud charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a unanimous judgment delivered virtually on Friday, the three-member panel upheld Akpobolokemi’s appeal, overturned the decision of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, and struck out all 12 counts of conspiracy, stealing, and forgery brought 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 accused Akpobolokemi of participating in unauthorized withdrawals and fund transfers from the account of the Voluntary International Maritime Organisation Member State Audit Scheme (VIMSAS) Committee.
But the Court of Appeal ruled that there was no evidence linking him to the committee’s financial activities.
“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 initially arraigned alongside several others, but the charges were later amended to include only him and one co-defendant.
The trial court had determined that a prima facie case had been established and ordered both the former NIMASA chief and his co-accused to open their defence.
However, Akpobolokemi’s lawyers, Collins Ogbonna and Kunle Gbolahan, appealed the ruling by Justice Raliatu Adebiyi of the Lagos High Court, who had earlier dismissed their no-case submission. They argued that the EFCC failed to link their client to any criminal act and had relied on inadmissible evidence and untrustworthy testimonies, particularly those of prosecution witnesses PW9, PW10, and PW11, as well as Exhibits P59–P61.
The Appeal Court justices agreed, ruling that several key elements of the prosecution’s case — including the testimonies of PW9, PW10, and PW11, and 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.
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