By Owolola Adebola
The Abuja Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, presented the first prosecution witness (PW1), Mr. Olajide Friday, before Justice A. S Adepoju of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, in the trial of William Salami Bamidele, who allegedly issued a dud cheque of GT Bank to the tune of N27, 000,000.00 (Twenty Seven Million Naira).
The defendant was arraigned on May 13, 2020, and pleaded not guilty to the one count-charge, leveled against him by the Commission.
At today’s sitting, the PW1, who is a staff of Angel walker Cooperative Society and the president of its Vetting and Loan Disbursement, told the court how Bamidele was introduced to the Cooperative Society sometime in April 2015, by one Abel Suleiman, who stood as a guarantor to him, as he secured a loan of N9,000,000.00 (Nine Million Naira) from the cooperative society.
The witness further stated that the loan was given to the defendant through his company, Fishgate Technologies Limited, to enable him purchase and install CCTV camera, in a contract awarded to him by the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting (NSPM).
The witness further stated that the defendant was to pay the loan with the interest immediately after installing the cameras in NSPM, but surprisingly, failed to pay back the loan as agreed on completion of the contract.
The agitated Cooperative Society initiated a series of meetings with the defendant that covered the period from 2015 to 2019, yet made no success in getting the loan repayment.
Prosecution counsel, Faruk Abdulla, in view of the witness’ account, tendered a copy of the petition attached with the loan form, the invoice for the purchase of CCTV camera and Angelwalker Cooperative Society registration form, which were all admitted by the court in evidence. He also tendered the petition written by the witness and the dud cheque, issued by the defendant.
Justice Adepoju adjourned the matter till June 29, 2020, for the cross-examination of the witness and continuation of trial.