FRN VS MADU (CONTD)

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 16TH COUNT
Obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 1(3) of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 13 of 1995 as amended by Act No. 62 of 1999.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 14th day of February 2003 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud obtained the sum of US$32, 000 (Thirty two Thousand United States Dollars) from Ishmael Lightbourne of Bahamas by falsely pretending that the said sum was for processing NNPC Contract No, FGN/NNPC/3160/X2X001.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 17TH COUNT
Obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 1(3) of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 13 of 1995 as amended by Act No. 62 of 1999.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 20th day of February 2003 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud obtained the sum of US$65, 000 (Sixty Five Thousand United States Dollars) from Ishmael Lightbourne of Bahamas by falsely pretending that the said sum was for processing NNPC Contract No. FGN/NNPC/3160/X2X001.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 18TH COUNT
Obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 1(3) of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 13 of 1995 as amended by Act No. 62 of 1999.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 4th day of March 2003 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud obtained the sum of US$44,000 (Forty Four Thousand United States Dollars) from Ishmael Lightbourne of Bahamas by falsely pretending that the said sum was for processing NNPC Contract No. FGN/NNPC/3160/X2X001.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE-19TH COUNT
Forgery contrary to Section 467(2)(1) of the Criminal Code Cap. C17, Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 31st day of May 2002 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud forged acknowledgment receipt for the sum of N9, 329,600 (Nine Million, Three Hundred and Twenty Nine Thousand, Six Hundred Naira Only) purported to have been Issued by one Virginus Chukwu.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 20TH COUNT
Uttering contrary to Section 468 of the Criminal, Code Cap. C17, Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003,

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 6th day of April 2005 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud knowingly and fraudulently uttered forged acknowledgment receipt for the sum of N9, 329,600 (Nine Million,Three Hundred and Twenty Nine Thousand, Six Hundred Naira Only) to Mr. Philip Ngoke of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as genuine.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 21ST COUNT
Forgery contrary to Section 467(2)(1) of the Criminal Code Cap. C17, Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 12th day of August 2002 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud forged acknowledgment receipt,for the sum of N6, 664,000 (Six Million, Six Hundred and Sixty Four Thousand Naira Only) purported to have been issued by one Virginus Chukwu.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 22ND COUNT
Uttering contrary to Section 468 of the Criminal Code Cap. C17, Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 6th day of April 2006 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud knowingly and fraudulently uttered forged acknowledgment receipt for the sum of N6, 664.000 (Six
Million, Six Hundred and Sixty Four Thousand Naira Only) to Mr. Philip Ngoke of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as genuine.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 23RD COUNT
Forgery contrary to Section 467(2)(1) of the Criminal Code Cap. C17, Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 11th day of March 2003 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud forged acknowledgment receipt for the sum of N11, 728,640 (Eleven Million, Seven Hundred and Twenty Eight Thousand, Six Hundred and Forty Naira Only) purported to have been issued by one VirgInus Chukwu.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 24TH COUNT
Uttering contrary to Section 468 of the Criminal Code Cap. C17, Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 11th day of March 2003 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud knowingly and fraudulently uttered forged acknowledgment receipt for the sum of N11,728,640 (Eleven Million, Seven Hundred and Twenty Eight Thousand, Six Hundred and Forty Naira Only) to Mr. Philip Ngoke of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as genuine.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 25TH COUNT
Forgery contrary to Section 467(2)(1) of the Criminal Code Cap. C17, Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 12th day of January 2001 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud forged NNPC document titled "Contract Agreement No FGN/NNPC/3160/X2X001” purported to have been issued by NNPC.

STATEMENT OF OFFENCE – 26TH COUNT
Uttering contrary to Section 468 of the Criminal Code Cap. C17, Vol.2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
Igwe Godwin Madu (alias Usman Mustapha), Goddyson West Africa Limited, Chinedu John (still at large) and others still at large on or about the 12th day of March 2003 at Lagos within Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud knowingly and fraudulently uttered forged NNPC document titled "Contract Agreement No FHN/NNPC/3160/X2X001" to Ismael Lightbourne of Bahamas as genuine."

The accused person pleaded not guilty to the charge. The Prosecution opened its case on the 15th of November 2006.

PW1 was Musibau Adegbolahan Awoderu a Police Inspector attached to the EFCC.

He testified that sometime in December 2004, the EFCC received through an informant who was not named, an information that one Ishmael Lightbourne of the Bahamas was swindled by fraudsters from Nigeria. The informant supplied the address of the victim. The EFCC sent an e-mail to the victim requesting for details of the scam. He replied via e-mail and sent down six wire transfer slips. He also sent a summary of the payments made to the fraudsters for the purported NNPC contract.

He testified that the accused person was arrested on the 1st of March 2005. He obtained his statement under caution. The accused person made additional 7 statements also under caution.

PW1 tendered the victims e-mail Exhibit P1, Barclays Bank of Ghana Wire Transfer as Exhibit P2, Wire Transfer of Bank of America, Exhibits P3 - P7, Summary of payments Exhibit P8 and the purported NNPC document Exhibit P9. He also tendered the statements of the accused Exhibits P10 - P17.

PW1 was cross-examined extensively. Defence Counsel tendered Exhibits Dl - D5 through him.

PW2 was Philip Ngwoke an investigator with the EFCC. He testified that he was instructed by his team. leader to record additional statements from the accused. He tendered Exhibits P18 - P22 statements of the accused which he said he recorded under caution.

PW3 was Yayaha Bello of the EFCC. He testified that he led a team of operatives to Enugu to arrest the accused person. A search was conducted in his house after which he was flown to Lagos where he made his statement to PW1.

He testified that the accused person implicated one Virginus Chukwu as the person who used his account to defraud the victim. The accused person presented acknowledgement of payment receipts evidencing payment of the Naira equivalent of the Dollars paid into his account to Virginus Chukwu. On the strength of this allegation, Virginus Chukwu was arrested. He denied participating in the crime. He denied the documents acknowledging payment of Naira equivalent. These documents were admitted as Exhibits P23, P24 and P25. He testified that the signature of Virginus Chukwu in his letter of employment with the company of the accused and his offer letter Exhibits P26 and P27 were sent to the Forensic Document Examiner to compare with Exhibits P23 - P25. The handwriting analysts reports were admitted as Exhibits P28 and P29 respectively.

He testified that the accused person refunded some US Dollars which were remitted to the victim by the EFCC. The witness tendered copies of the Bonds to produce Exhibit for the various sums and all the correspondence relating to the remittances to the victim. These documents were admitted as Exhibits P30 - P50.

PW4 was Donatus Ugwu an Assistant Superintendent of Police attached to the EFCC. He testified that he accompanied PW3 to Enugu to arrest the accused. He was also present when the house of the accused was searched. He said in the course of the search, they recovered the International Passport of the accused person as well as £4,720. AH the items recovered were endorsed at the back of the search warrant.

He testified that in the course of investigation, the accused person made a refund of the sum of £2,500, That he also agreed to use the £4,720 recovered from him as part of the refund. He made an application to collect these sums and change to dollars which is the currency of the victim and for the EFCC to remit same. The application was approved and the money was changed to dollars and remitted to the victim. The witness identified Exhibit D4 the Search Warrant. He tendered the International Passport of the accused admitted as Exhibit P51 and the two applications of the accused to convert the money to dollars, exhibits P52 and P53 respectively.

PW5 was Muazu Abdullahi a Superintendent of Police and the Document Examiner of the EFCC. He gave evidence of his qualifications and experience as a handwriting analyst and document examiner. He testified that in May 2005, he received a letter from the Director of Operations EFCC accompanied by two sets of documents. The first was the disputed signature marked X and the second set the standard signature marked A for comparison.

He testified of his analysis of the two sets of documents and stated that his conclusion is that the two signatures are replicas. He said there is traced forgery of document marked A, The one marked X is a forged signature. He said he issued a report of his findings dated 7th June 2005.

He stated that on the 26th of April 2006, he received another letter from the EFCC also accompanied by the sets of document marked X - X2 and A - Al for comparison. He carried out the forensic analysis and his conclusion was that the disputed signatures marked X - X2 were forged signatures in a class of forgery known as free hand simulation. He issued a report dated 13th May 2006 Exhibit 29.

The witness identified Exhibits P28, P28(i) & P28(ii) the documents in respect of the 2005 examination and Exhibit P29(i-iv) in respect of the 2006 examination.

PW6 was Ishaq Mohammed an investigator with the EFCC. He testified that on the 16th of September 2005 his team leader Yahaya Bello asked him to record the statement of the accused person in relation to $10, 000 he brought as part payment of the money he defrauded Ishmael Lightbourne. He cautioned the accused person and the accused person asked him to assist him to write the statement. He dictated the statement and he helped him to write it. He read it over and the accused confirmed it and signed. He said he could not remember the reason the accused person gave for his inability to write the statement himself. The statement was admitted as Exhibit P55.

PW7 was Chukwu Virginus Nnajiofor, He testified that the accused person was his in law. He said on the 2nd of February 2005, he was invited to the EFCC where he was informed that the accused person said that he used his account to lodge in money. The EFCC showed him an acknowledgement receipt which he was purported to have signed. He said he did not sign any receipt and he did not pay any money into the account of the accused person. He also told them that he never asked the accused person to build houses or buy cars for him.

He said he was shown Exhibits P23, P24, P29 (iii) (iv) and (v) and he told the EFCC that he did not sign these documents.

PW8 was Alien Aiyelaye Alamman a Banker with Unity Bank formerly Intercity Bank. He testified that between 20/9/2005 - 20/7/2006, the EFCC requested that the Bank transfer money from their domiciliary account totaling $87,701.00 in four different transfers to one Ishmael Lightbourne of Peaceful Waters Company Ltd in Bahamas. The transfers were done as instructed. He identified Exhibits P31 - P34, P36 - P39, P41 - P49 as the documents for the transfer.

He also testified that they sent the copies of the Swift Message instructing their Bankers Offshore to transfer the funds to the EFCC to evidence the transfer to Ishmael Lightbourne.

The Swift Messages of 1/8/2006, 18/4/2006, 29/11/2005 and 2/9/2005 were admitted as Exhibits P56 - P59 respectively.

This was the case for the Prosecution.
Relevant portions of the cross-examination of the Prosecution witnesses will be referred to in the course of this judgment.

DW1 was Igwe Godwin Madu the accused person. He testified that he is a traditional ruler and businessman. He stated that on the 29/12/2004, one DSP Mrs. Ifeoma Ezeona from Alagbon came to his house with three men that he should follow them to Alagbon because there is a petition against him. He told them that his coronation was in two days. Two of the men told the DSP to allow him to come after the coronation. The DSP agreed and gave him appointment for the 9th of January which appointment he honoured. He tendered the complimentary card of the DSP and his coronation programme as Exhibit Dll and D12.

He testified that he is from the same village as Virginus Chukwu PW7 and there have been some issues between them as a result of his installation as Igwe. "He stated that when he got to Alagbon on the 9th, he saw the DSP and 3 men who introduced themselves as representatives of one Ishmael Lightbourne. He told the DSP that he had never met the man. The DSP took all of them to the office of the ACP where the DSP brought out a petition that he defrauded Ishmael Lightbourne who alleged that he lodge some money into his account for, him to supply aluminium profiles.

He denied the allegation. The ACP told him to go and write his statement with the DSP. As they were going, one of the officers who came with the DSP to his village to arrest him came to ACP's office. The ACP came later to the DSP's office and told her to be careful with this case that these petitioners are not the real petitioners, that the real petitioners are from his village. The DSP left the office and came back after two hours. She demanded for N10m to settle the case. He told her he did not have that kind of money. She threatened him with EFCC. The three men did not talk. She put a call through to Yayaha Bello.

After about 2 or 3 weeks, Yahaya Bello came to his village with Frank Ezeona the husband of Ifeoma Ezeoma the DSP. He tendered the complimentary card of Frank Ezeona as Exhibit D13.

He testified that when he got to the EFCC, Yayaha Bello brought out a petition on the letter head of Liberty Chambers who said they are representing an NGO New Citizen Group of which Frank Ezeona is the President.

In the petition, he was alleged to have defrauded one Ishmael Lightbourne with other people. He denied the allegation. He was asked to write his statement which he did. He said they showed him printed Bank Slips showing that money was lodged into his account and the sender of the money was Ishmael Lightbourne.

He said he admitted that the account names were his own but he did not know Ishmael Lightbourne. He said that he could remember that he gave his account number to his in-law Virginus Chukwu PW7 and Ikem Esel Robert. PW7 came to him in 2001 that he has foreign exchange that he wants to sell to him. He told PW7 if it is not fraudulent money or drug money he can use the account and he will give him the Naira equivalent upon his collecting 2% Commission for the Bank Charges and other expenses, PW7 agreed. He stated that PW7 used to sign acknowledgement receipts for the Naira equivalent. He identified Exhibits P23, P24 and P25 as some of the acknowledgments.

He testified that PW7 made a statement to NDLEA where he admitted that he bought him four exotic cars and he built houses for him at the time the lodgments were made. CTC of the statement of PW7 to NDLEA was tendered as Exhibit D14.

The accused person confirmed that he made refund of $88, 000 at the EFCC. He said when he finished writing his statement, Yayaha Bello came in and saw where he said he collected 2% of the total money lodged into his account. The 2% was about $16, 000 according to the lodgment but Yayaha Bello said he must pay $100, 000 before he can end the case. He agreed because it dawned on him that the N10m the DSP was asking for and this $100, 000 was about the same amount.

I think I need to pause here to say that Yahaya Bello testified as PW3 and he was never confronted with these allegations under cross-examination.

The accused person testified further that he and PW7 were in-laws because PW7 married his senior sister. They were very close until 2003 when he was presented as the Igwe Elect against PW7's father. That was when PW7 began to write petitions against him first to the former Governor of Enugu State and later to Alagbon and to the EFCC. On the day of his coronation PW7 was absent with his family. Instead, they went to another chieftaincy ceremony for their father.

DW2 was Raphael Onwusuligbo a Police Inspector and document examiner attached to the Forensic Science Laboratory Force C. I. D. Annex Alagbon Close Ikoyi Lagos.

He gave evidence of his qualifications and his experience as a handwriting analyst. He stated that he was subpoened to testify in this case. His office received a letter on the 10th of October 2006 later corrected to be 5th. of October 2006 from the office of U. C. Ikegbule Ibrahim Tahir and Associates to examine some documents marked Al, A2, A3, A4, X and XI. He said he carried out the examination and he came to the conclusion that one signatory signed ail the documents. He wrote his opinion and issued a report to U. C. Ikegbule & Associates.

He tendered Exhibits D16- D25 and explained the comparative table Exhibit D25 to the court. He also stated that he used the video spectra comparator and other apparatus to do the comparison.