Witness denies Ibori’s interest in Oando

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AS the confiscation of assets hearing of former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori gradually winds up, his legal team flew in a witness from Nigeria at yesterday’s sitting in an effort to distance the former governor from Oando Oil Plc.
  Earlier, at a point during the morning session, it looked like the leading defence barrister, Ivan Krolick didn’t know the type of card his backroom staff was going to play next.
  Krolick had to admit to the court, “we can’t actually tell Your Honour what is going to happen until two o’clock.” Reason being that: “The person to give evidence hasn’t arrived,” although he did know the evidence wouldn’t last more than half an hour, he told Mr. Anthony Pitts, when the Judge asked if he knew how long the witness would be in the box for. The judge then adjourned till 2 p.m. and as soon as the court was back in session, Krolick was on his feet and he gladly announced to the court:” We do have a witness in court, Mr. Olatunde Oyewole.”
  Looking at the paper in his hand, Krolick told the 54-year old Lagos -based lawyer, “I’m going to ask you about a specific company called Ocean and Oil Services,” after the witness had been sworn into the witness box. Oyewole, who revealed that he is the liquidator of the company and that it had ceased trading in 2005 because the three individuals who owned it decided to wind it up sometime in 2009.

  Krolick went on to ask Oyewole, “I’ m going to ask you about a company called Oando Plc.” The witness nodded and gave him the green light to carry on. Krolick asked him, “ Can you tell your Honour if there was a connection between Ocean and Oil and Oando?”  Oyewole said there was none, and then went on to list two other companies -Ocean and Oil Investments and Ocean and Oil Holdings, as being jointly owned by “a common shareholder.”
  Having set the backdrop, Krolick asked Oyewole “if you are able to say if a man called James Ibori has any shares in Oando Plc.”
   The lawyer replied, “He definitely did not. At no time did Ibori have any shares of Oando,” and having heard that, Krolick took his seat.
  Wass then cross-examined the lawyer and when she asked, “have you heard of a company called Edgeware Resources Ltd?” Oyewole admitted “I first heard of it from newspaper reports last week.”
  When the Crown prosecutor pressed him further and asked whether he was aware that Edgeware Resources has 890, 620 shares in Oando and whether he knew if Ibori had used that company as a vehicle to hide his ownership, Oyewole said again that “I don’t know anything about Edgeware Resources Ltd, I’m sorry I can’t help you on that.”   The witness then added that his brief from the defence was to come and testify about Ocean and Oil Services and its two sister companies, Ocean and Oil Investments and Ocean and Oil Holdings.
  After this, the judge adjourned till Friday morning, when both sides of the bench would submit their brief arguments.