Bankole who is answering to a 16-count criminal charges bothering on contract inflation and abuse of office, had on May 21, begged the trial court to ignore the evidence which EFCC said would prove his culpability in an alleged N894m contract scam.
Arguing through his lead counsel, Chief Wale Akonni, SAN, the embattled ex-speaker, queried the admissibility of the proof of evidence which he insisted were irrelevant to the criminal case upon which he is standing trial before the high court.
Specifically, the anti-graft agency alleged that he rigged bid for the purchase of three units of Mercedes Benz S-600 cars, two units of Range Rover vehicles (without bullet proofs) and 400 units of DSTV systems, by refusing to follow all the procedures prescribed for public procurements in Sections 17 to 56 of the Public Procurement Act No.14 of 2007, leading to a loss of value to the national treasury and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58(4)(e) of the Public Procurement Act, No.14 of 2007 and punishable under Section 58(5) of the same Act.
Ruling on the matter, yesterday, Justice Donatus Okorowo who dismissed the objection raised by the ex-Speaker, said he was satisfied that the documents were duly certified.
Okorowo noted that the primary contention of the accused person was that some pages were missing from the documents, saying Bankole’s counsel ought to raise the issue in his written address.
Consequently, all the documents were yesterday admitted into evidence and marked as exhibits.
Meantime, the court fixed September 24, 25, 26 and 27 to continue the trial, shortly after it concluded the cross examination of the 2nd prosecution witness, Mr Adeboye Adeniyi, an investigative officer with the EFCC who tendered letters of agreement that the House of Representatives under Bankole’s leadership, entered with some companies that allegedly took part in the alleged illicit contract deal.
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