A prosecution witness in the trial of the Spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, over alleged money laundering has revealed how the politician transferred $2million through his company, Dextra Investments Limited.
The prosecution witness, said she received $2million from Metuh on the 2nd of December 2014 and employed the services of a Bureau De Change (BDC) in the conversion of the dollars into Nigerian currency and transferred the money to the account of Dextra Investments Limited which she claimed belongs to Metuh.
Justice Okon Abang overruled a request by Metuh’s lead counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), for adjournment of the trial. Ikpeazu informed the judge that since Metuh had been unable to meet the bail conditions granted him on January 16, the defence had filed an application for variation of the terms. He urged the court to adjourn the proceedings, claiming that the inability of his client to meet the bail conditions had adverse effects on his preparation for the defence.
Prosecution Counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, opposed the application for adjournment and his objection was upheld by the judge. The counsel then proceeded to open the prosecution’s case with the testimony of Ararume, who narrated how she collected the $2m cash from Metuh at his home office.
She said: “He gave me $2m in $100 bills. It was taken to Bureau de Change operators From his house (Metuh) I proceeded to Mr. Sie Iyenome’s office at Wuse 2 where I gave him the sum of $1m.
“I also invited one Mr. Kabiru Mohammed and gave him $1m to transfer the Naira equivalent in favour of Destra Investment Limited. Later, on the same day, December 2, 2014, Kabiru and Iyenome confirmed the receipt.”
The second prosecution witness, Iyename, a BDC operator, said he had $1 million exchanged to N183 million and transferred it to the account of Dextra Investments Limited but said he had no knowledge of either Metuh or his company before the time of the transaction.
He said $500,000 dollars was exchanged to N46 million and N45 million totalling N91 million through a BDC in Lagos, while one Etionye changed the other $500,000 to N92 million, bringing the total to N183 million which he said was paid into the beneficiary’s account (Metuh).
After the defence had cross-examined the witnesses, the prosecution counsel asked Iyenome if he was aware that there were certain thresholds or financial limits for transactions that he should be aware of as a BDC operator. He said he was aware and explained that the sales threshold of Foreign Exchange to an individual is $4,000 while it is $5,000 for businesses.
The prosecuting counsel said he had 16 more witnesses to present before the court.
The trial was adjourned till Tuesday, January 26, 2016 (today).