A prosecution witness, Ekene Nwakuche, on Wednesday told an Ikeja High Court that a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, inflated the agency’s budget to embezzle funds.
Mr Akpobolokemi has pleaded not guilty to 12-count charge of conspiracy, forgery and stealing N687.2 million.
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Mr Nwakuche is a former Personal Assistant to Mr Agaba.
During cross-examination by Akpobolokemi’s counsel, Kunle Gbolahan, Nwakuche said: “I am not the personal assistant to the first defendant (Akpobolokemi) but rather to Agaba.
“What they (the defendants) do is that they request that we do a draft budget, present it to them and they have a meeting between themselves and readjust and increase the budget.
“It’s not possible for me to present the draft budget here in court because the draft budget that is made is usually destroyed.”
In another cross-examination by Agaba’s counsel, E. D. Onyeke, Nwakuche revealed that he was not a member of the Voluntary International Maritime Organisation Member State Audit Scheme (VIMSAS) set up by Akpobolokemi in 2014.
The EFCC says a VIMSAS bank account received funds from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) which was allegedly embezzled by the defendants.
Nwakuche also denied being a staff of Arrow World Consulting, a firm the EFCC alleged was used by the defendants to steal funds from the agency.
The EFCC says Akpobolokemi, Agaba and Udoye allegedly conspired to commit the offence on August 29, 2014.
Justice Raliatu Adebiyi adjourned the case until March 4 for continuation of cross-examination of the witness.
