THE 12th prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the immediate past Aviation Minister, Senator Hadi Sirika, on Wednesday insisted before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that the former minister imposed his German friend on the ministry for the award of a consultancy contract for the botched Nigeria Air project.
News Point Nigeria reports that Sirika is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Sylvanus Oriji, sitting in Maitama, Abuja, alongside his daughter, Fatima; his son-in-law, Hamma Jalal Sule; and a company allegedly owned by the couple, Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, on a six-count charge bordering on abuse of office and contract fraud involving N2.8 billion.
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He was alleged to have abused his office as a minister to confer unfair advantage on Al Buraq Global Investment Limited by using his position to influence the award of a contract for the apron extension at the Katsina Airport for N1,498,300,750, among other alleged offences.
According to the EFCC, the alleged offences contravened Sections 12 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000; Section 17(b) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004; and Section 315 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Laws of the Federal Capital Territory, and are punishable under the respective provisions.
However, the former minister and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them.
The 12th prosecution witness, Christopher Odofin, an EFCC operative, had told the court in May, during his evidence-in-chief, that the Ministry of Aviation, under the first defendant, had awarded consultancy services for the botched Nigeria Air project to Tianaero Nigeria Limited (TNL), a company belonging to Gabriel Tilmann.
He claimed that Tilmann, a German national, was an associate of the former minister, adding that Tianaero was initially awarded a consultancy contract worth more than N299 million on April 4, 2022.
The witness further told the court that the contract was subsequently extended on October 17, 2022, to more than N599 million.
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Odofin said investigations revealed that the contract extension was granted on Sirika’s instructions because of his relationship with the company’s principal.
A voice note tendered through the witness by the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, and admitted in evidence by the court, was played during the last proceedings in May.
The voice note was alleged to contain Sirika’s verbal instruction to the then Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Enitan Abel, to award a consultancy contract to his friend.
In the voice note, the former minister was heard directing the permanent secretary to “Do the right thing. Generate the necessary contract and give his (Tilmann’s) company. In that way, we can be paying for his services”.
Odofin told the court that Sirika described Tilmann as a trained captain and top manager who had helped establish several airlines around the world, including Qatar Airways, which he described as the best.
At the resumed hearing in the case on Wednesday, Odofin, while being cross-examined by counsel to Sirika, Kanu Agabi, SAN, insisted that the voice in the recording, marked as Exhibit 37b, belonged to the former minister, who was addressing the then permanent secretary, Abel.
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“In the voice note, he (Sirika) described the permanent secretary as a person he trusted to carry out his (former minister’s) instructions,” the 12th prosecution witness told the court.
He confirmed that Sirika described Tilmann as “energetic and resourceful”, but said he doubted the description because “the company to which the contract was awarded was barely registered one year before the contract was awarded to it”.
