Omatseye awarded N22m Blackberry contract without Board approval – Witness

A principal prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Raymond Omatseye, the former Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, on Thursday told a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos that Omatseye awarded a contract for the purchase of Blackberry smartphones without the approval of the Board of the agency.
The witness, Ahmed Ibrahim, told Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia: “The contract for the purchase of BlackBerry smartphones was awarded by NIMASA under the leadership of the accused person and according to the records given to me during investigation, the BlackBerry contract award did not go through the board of NIMASA.”
Omatseye is standing trial for awarding contracts exceeding the threshold allowed a Director General by the Public Procurement Act while he was in office.
When the witness was asked by the defence counsel, Sofola Olusina, SAN, to state the sum of the contract, Ibrahim told the court that the contract was worth N22,050,000, which was clearly outside the approval threshold of the accused but was not brought before the parastatal’s Tenders Board for approval..
In his response to the question asked by Sofola on who wrote the memo contained in exhibit PD 17b, Ibrahim told the court that the accused wrote the memo to the Board of directors of NIMASA, seeking its approval for the procurement of the BlackBerry smartphones.
However, he pointed out that there was no evidence that the Board approved the procurement as there is no Board resolution conveying such approval, adding that the former Director General acted unilaterally.
Ibrahim also told the court during questioning that the cost of a BlackBerry phone at the time of his investigation was N120,000 but had no knowledge if the phones supplied came with lines.
The case has been adjourned to June 26 and 27, 2013 for continuation of trial.