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By Amah<\/p>\n
Kindly share:<\/p>\n
The British national, Mr James Nolan, who jumped bail in the ongoing trial linked to alleged 9.6 billion dollars Process and Industrial Development, P&ID Ltd scandal, on Thursday, said he does not intend to call any witness.<\/p>\n
Nolan told Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja through his lawyer, Michael Ajara.<\/p>\n
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the 20-count charge, named Micad Project City Services Limited and Nolan as 1st and 2nd defendants in the money laundering offences.<\/p>\n
Nolan and Micad Project, a company where he is a director, were arraigned in May 2022.<\/p>\n
The duo pleaded not guilty to the charge and Nolan, who is also a director in P&ID Ltd, was remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre.<\/p>\n
After he met his bail conditions of N100 million with a surety and was admitted to bail following the variation of the bail from N500 million, Nolan stopped attending court proceedings and fled Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Nolan was declared wanted by the court and an order was made for his arrest anywhere he is sighted.<\/p>\n
The EFCC lawyer, Bala Sanga, equally applied that Nolan should be tried in absentia and the prayer was granted.<\/p>\n
Although NAN reported that the fleeing Briton was arrested by the International Criminal Police Organisation, INTERPO, in Italy on Jan. 27, 2024, during a visit he paid to his wife, he was yet to be extradited back to Nigeria to face his trial.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, when the matter was called on Thursday, Sanga told the court that the business of the day would have been for the prosecution to call their last witness.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut upon review of the case, we found that it is superfluous and therefore we are dispensing with the last witness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nolan\u2019s counsel, Ajara, said he had no objection to the anti-graft agency lawyer\u2019s submission.<\/p>\n
He, however, said after the evaluation of the EFCC\u2019s evidence, they would be relying on the prosecution\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on the evidence already before the court adduced by the prosecution, we shall be resting our case on theirs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we don\u2019t intend to call any witness,\u201d:he told the court.<\/p>\n
Justice Egwuatu adjourned the matter until March 10 for adoption of final written addresses of the parties.<\/p>\n
NAN recalls that a sister court presided over by Justice Donatus Okorowo had, on July 3, 2024, ordered the closure of two companies linked to Nolan, over the involvement in the P&ID Ltd fraud.<\/p>\n
Justice Okorowo, who had since been elevated to the Appeal Court, in two separate judgments, held that the two companies were found guilty of money laundering offences.<\/p>\n
Consequently, Okorowo ordered that the companies be wound up and their assets be forfeited to the Federal Government.<\/p>\n
The companies were Trinity Biotech Nigeria Limited and Resorts Express Concept Nigeria Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Amah Kindly share: The British national, Mr James Nolan, who jumped bail in the ongoing trial linked to alleged…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-economy","category-crime"],"yoast_head":"\n