By Taiye Agbaje
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.
Nolan told Justice Obiora Egwuatu of a Federal High Court in Abuja through his lawyer, Michael Ajara.
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.
Nolan and Micad Project, a company where he is a director, were arraigned in May 2022.
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.
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.
Nolan was declared wanted by the court and an order was made for his arrest anywhere he is sighted.
The EFCC lawyer, Bala Sanga, equally applied that Nolan should be tried in absentia and the prayer was granted.
Although NAN reported that the fleeing Briton was arrested by the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) 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.
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.
“But upon review of the case, we found that it is superfluous and therefore we are dispensing with the last witness,” he said.
Nolan’s counsel, Ajara, said he had no objection to the anti-graft agency lawyer’s submission.
He, however, said that after the evaluation of the EFCC’s evidence, they would be relying on the prosecution’s case.
“Based on the evidence already before the court adduced by the prosecution, we shall be resting our case on theirs.
“So we don’t intend to call any witness,”:he told the court.
Justice Egwuatu adjourned the matter until March 10 for adoption of final written addresses of the parties.
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.
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.
Consequently, Okorowo ordered that the companies be wound up and their assets be forfeited to the federal government.
The companies were Trinity Biotech Nigeria Limited and Resorts Express Concept Nigeria Ltd.
(NAN)
