Ade Adesomoju, AbujaThe trial of a businessman, Jide Omokore, and others for alleged diversion of $1.6bn proceeds of sales of Federal Government’s crude oil, was stalled before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday due to the absence of prosecution witnesses. The trial had held on Wednesday, with the EFCC calling its fourth prosecution witness who was also cross-examined by the defence, and the matter was adjourned until Thursday for continuation. He explained that one of the two witnesses was an investigative officer in the case but was recently transferred from Abuja to Lagos. The judge also expressed sadness over the failure of the witnesses to be in court. The judge suggested that he would stand down the matter for as long as when the prosecution was able to produce the witnesses in court to enable the trial to make a progress.

Source: Punch January 18, 2018 12:11 UTC