A principal prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of a former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Raymond Omatseye, on Wednesday told a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos how Omatseye awarded a contract to a company that was not listed among companies pre-qualified for a contract to supply a 2000 KVA (Perkins) power generating set to the agency.
The witness, Ibrahim Ahmed, told the court that Daniel Holdings Limited did not go through the pre-qualification and evaluation processes for the tender exercise.
Ahmed had earlier testified before the court that an award letter from NIMASA to one Kolal Riska International Nigeria Limited for the supply of office accessories at a contract sum of N4,930,000 was clearly above the stipulated threshold of less than N2.5 million allowed a Director General under the Public Procurement Act.
The award letter, Ahmed explained, was signed on behalf of Omatseye by one M. K. Shehu, who was the Director of Procurement at the time.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Wednesday, Ahmed, while being led in evidence by EFCC’s counsel, Godwin Obla, identified signatures on some internal memos and other contract documents presented before the court and which were tagged exhibits 17 and 18, as belonging to Omatseye.
Omatseye is standing trial on a 27-count charge bordering on abuse of office and awarding contracts exceeding the threshold allowed a Director General by the Public Procurement Act, while he was in office.
Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, after listening to the submissions of the EFCC witness, adjourned the case till Thursday.
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