N1.5bn contract scam: Former NIMASA DG, Omatseye jailed 5 years

BY LUKMAN OLABIYI

JUSTICE Rita Ofili-Aju­mogobia of the Federal High Court yesterday slammed five years imprisonment on for­mer Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Admin­istration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Raymond Omatseye for contract scam.

Omatseye was docked be­fore the court by the Econom­ic and Financial Crimes Com­mission (EFCC) in 2010 on a 27- count charge bordering on bid rigging and contract split­ting to the tune of N1.5 billion.

Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia found Omatseye guilty of 24 out of the 27 charges preferred against him. She however, discharged and acquitted him of 3 out of the 27 counts bor­dering on bid rigging.

Ajumogobia found Omat­seye guilty of the offence of awarding contracts above stipulated threshold, and ac­cordingly convicted him on counts 1 to 20,24,25,26, and 27.

The court discharged and acquitted him on counts 21, 22 and 23 of the charge. De­livering the judgment, she held that:

“In the instant charge, the defendant testified in his evi­dence in chief that he was re­leased on administrative bail and asked to come back the following day and in his state­ment, he responded that his threshold for supply was N2.5 million.

“Furthermore,his statement was corroborated by Pw2 and Pw3; Pw2 stated in his tes­timony that in line with the Public Procurement Act, the Chief Executive officer had a threshold of N2.5 million for goods and N5 million for works.

“I accordingly find him guilty as charged on these counts.

“The second issue is wheth­er the prosecution has proved the offence of bid rigging?

“It is trite law that the pros­ecution must prove all the essential ingredients of the offence before it can be said to have been proved beyound reasonable doubt.

“It is my view that the pros­ecution has not established the offence of bid rigging against the defendant to secure a con­viction on that ground, and I so hold.

“The accused is hereby sentenced to five years im­prisonment on counts 1 to 20,24,25,26 and 27 of the charge. He is discharged and acquitted of counts 21, 22, and 23 of the charge. The term of imprisonment are to run con­currently”

Chief Godwin Obla (SAN) led prosecution for EFCC, while Mr Edoka Oneyeke appeared for the ac­cused.

In his allocutus (mercy plea before sentence) coun­sel to the accused, Oneyeke had passionately urged the court to tamper justice with mercy.

He reminded the court that the accused was a senior member of the Bar who had been suspended from work since 2010.

He had urged the court to consider the disposition of the accused who had reli­giously attended court with­out fail, since his arraign­ment, and had prayed the court to show leniency.

To establish his case against the accused, EFCC called of three witnesses.

The prosecution also tendered several bulk docu­ments as exhibit, while the defendant called two wit­nesses and tendered one document as exhibit.