Court admits 52 exhibits against Akingbola

The trial of former Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Dr Erastus Akingbola, resumed on Wednesday, as the Economic and Financial Crimes Comission (EFCC) tendered documents which further revealed how Akingbola siphoned the sum of N18.6 billion belonging to the bank.At the end of the sitting, the prosecution, led by Godwin Obla, tendered 52 documents which were admitted as exhibits by the court.Jimoh, in his testimonies before Justice Habeeb Abiru of a Lagos High Court in Ikeja, explained how the transactions were perfected.The witness alleged that various sums of money were debited from customer savings deposit.He said from the record of the bank, no loan facility was extended to Tropics Finance Limited, where Akingbola is a stakeholder but all payments made to the company were on the instruction of Akingbola himself.However, the defence conducted by Mr Deji Sasegbon (SAN), objected to the admissibility of the documents tendered by the prosecution, alleging that it was trial by ambush and their act, according to him, was bizarre.According to Sasegbon, his objection was based on the fact that there was not enough time to go through the documents tendered by the prosecution as the defence was only availed copies of the said documents the previous day (Tuesday).He cited Section 36 (6) of the constitution which, according to him, states that they must be given enough time and facility to prepare their defence.Obla, while urging the court to discountenance the argument of the defence also cited Section 146 (1) of the Evidence Act.The EFCC had alleged that Akingbola conspired with his wife, Anthonia (now at large) and Dada to steal over N47.1 billion belonging to Intercontinental Bank Plc whilst he was the Chief Executive Officer.The trial has been adjourned till December 14.
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