Justice Tijani Ringim of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, ordered a trial- within- trial in the alleged N304.1m fraud trial involving a former acting Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Haruna Baba Jauro, and two others.
Jauro, along with Dr. Dauda Bitrus Bawa and a company called Thlumbau Enterprises Limited, is facing a 19-count charge of stealing and money laundering totaling N304, 118, 500. ( Three Hundred and Four Million One Hundred and Eighteen Thousand Five Hundred Naira).
At Wednesday’s proceedings, the third prosecution witness, PW3, Orji Chukwuma, an investigator with the EFCC, in his further evidence, told the court that both the first and second defendants were invited to the EFCC office and that the first defendant had interactions with the investigating team in his office.