Lawyer, others ‘sold’ land with stolen C of O, say Police

He disclosed this while testifying in the trial of a lawyer, Kole Bello, and three others over alleged forgery before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo. Salisu, under cross-examination by defence counsel, Ayodele Akintunde (SAN), said he was directed to investigate the case following a petition written by the businessman to the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police, Ikoyi, and a counter petition written by the complainant to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP). He said: “Initially, it was Olubeko who wrote a petition to the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) against the complainant, Mr. Felix Awolaja, the first son of the late woman. “Based on the petition, Mr. Awolaja was arrested, detained and interrogated by the police while other defendants wrote statements at the SFU as witnesses in support of Olubeko’s claim over ownership of the land against the complainant. “However, Mr. Awolaja wrote a counter-petition to the IGP and the case was initially assigned to the Commissioners of Police at the Federal Criminal Investigation Department (FCIID), Alagbon, Ikoyi Lagos. It was later assigned to my team following a signal from the IGP that the case files should be harmonised. “We harmonised the case files and invited all parties but Olubeko refused to honour our invitation until he was declared wanted. “In the course of investigation, facts about how the defendants went to the bank to complete the transaction and how they impersonated the deceased to sell her land to Olubeko with a stolen C of O, was revealed. “In the course of investigating the matter, an official of the state Ministry of lands, Olanipekun Cole, told us that it was the duplicate copy of the original C of O in the file at the ministry that was illegally removed and stolen by the defendants to sell the land,” he said. The police officer said he was dismayed that despite the role played by Olubeko in the perpetration of the alleged crime, he was not prosecuted as recommended. Bello was arraigned along with Chukwu Victor, Friday Palmer and Osumah Terry last October 30 by the Lagos State Government on a three-count charge for conspiracy, fraud and forgery. They, however, denied committing the alleged offences by pleading not guilty. All the defendants were alleged to have committed the offences in December 2001 at Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1, Lagos. Under cross examination, ACP Salisu said he did a diligent investigation before he recommended that the defendants be prosecuted. Justice Taiwo adjourned until June 15.]]>