A Federal High Court in Abuja has discharged and acquitted two Chinese, Hao Aijun and Liu Yangxi and a Nigerian, Obi Anthony Chibuzor, who were charged with conspiracy, forgery and fraud.
The three, who are directors of BN Ceramics Industry Nigeria Limited, were in a 13-count charge, numbered: FHC/ABJ/CR/77/2017 filed in the name of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), accused of forging the company’s board’s resolutions, among other allegations.
At their arraignment, they pleaded not guilty, following which trial was conducted, during which the defendants made a no-case submission, which was partially upheld by the trial Judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, leading to the striking out of eight out of the 13 counts.
The defendants subsequently entered defence in relation to the remaining five counts, following which Justice Dimgba gave his judgment discharging and acquitting them on the said counts.
In the judgement, the Judge upheld that arguments by Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), counsel to Aijun and Yangxi, and Anozie Obi, counsel to Chibuzor, that the prosecution, represented by M. O. Omosun failed to prove its case.
According to the Judge, “From the totality of the evidence given in this case, most especially the testimony of prosecution witness (PW)1, PW2 and PW5, none of their testimony has been able to link the defendants with any act of forgery.
“Even the testimony of the handwriting experts and the reports of their findings, as manifested in Exhibits HA4, HA5, HA11 and HA13, did not link the defendants to the document, the signature of the PW1 said to have been forged.”
The judge added that the prosecution failed to call necessary witnesses, who would have supplied vital evidence, adding that, “Consequent on the above, I hereby find the defendants not guilty of the charges preferred against them.
“I hold that the prosecution has failed to prove the offence of conspiracy against the defendants by the standard required by law, which is beyond reasonable doubt and I hereby discharge and acquit the defendants on count one.
“I discharge and acquit the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants on counts two, three and four because, from all that I have said, it is obvious that the prosecution has not discharged the burden placed on them to prove the offences beyond reasonable doubt.
“I also hereby discharge and acquit the 3rd defendant on count five for the same reasons and add that the offence of uttering cannot be sustained when there is no forgery established,” Justice Dimgba held.
The Police had filed the charge upon a complaint by one of BN Ceramics’ directors, Zhang Xing, following a boardroom disagreement.
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