EFCC Witness Denies Forensic Audit In Arik Air Fraud Trial

After a fairly lengthly break, the criminal proceeding against the former Managing Director/CEO, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), and others, resumed sitting on April 28, at the Special Offences Court sitting before Justice Mojisola Dada, in Ikeja, Lagos State, with the 4th witness, Mr Bawa Usman Kaltungo, finishing his testimony.

The long court saga is connected with the case of Ahmed Kuru, the former Managing Director/CEO of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) who is on trial with Kamilu Alaba Omokide, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, Union Bank Plc and Super Bravo Limited over an alleged fraud of N76 billion and $31.5million linked to Arik Air (in receivership).

At the end of Kaltungo’s testimony, counsel to the First and Third defendants, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, SAN, who began cross-examining the EFCC witness, established that Kaltungo may not have done a thorough job of his assignment as an EFCC investigator, as most of his testimony was based on assumptions, and not proper documentation of due processes, adding that his testimony revealed that the Commission never engaged the services of a forensic accountant to establish the status of Arik’s indebtedness.

Kaltungo also disclosed that as the lead investigator, he had no accounting background and this called into question his evidence and report on the Arik indebtedness.

“There was no need,” he said, for the forensic audit or accounting background as his position as Investigator was “sufficient.”

” Kaltungo, in his testimony, made desperate attempts to mislead and impose his personal opinion when he claimed that Mr Oluseye Opasaya SAN, the first AMCON-appointed Receiver Manager (RM) acted outside the ambit of his duties and engagement framework when he proceeded to act as an RM over the affairs of Arik, contrary to being a Receiver, he added.

However, under cross-examination, Prof. Osipitan, SAN, clarified this position by asking the witness whether in the course of his investigation, he knew as a fact that the appointment of the RM was backed and recognised by a lawful Court Order. ‘I’m just an investigator,’ he said, looking almost lost.

Prof. Osipitan, SAN, asked Kaltungo if at any point of investigation, he ever saw any document or records establishing a nexus between First and Third defendants in the sale of the embattled Arik loan from Union Bank to AMCON. Kaltungo said there was none. He also confirmed under cross examination that there was no nexus between the First and Third Defendants in the sale of the shares of Arik in Zenith Bank towards the liquidation of the Arik loan. This new development brought a sudden end to the noisy exuberance of the investigator that Kaltungo had exhibited throughout the period of his testimony.

It would be recalled that the EFCC had dragged the former MD of AMCON, and others to court, following a petition by Mr Femi Falana on behalf of the promoter of Arik Air involving the ex-AMCON MD/CEO, Ahmed Kuru, Kamilu Omokide, a former receiver manager of Arik Air Ltd; Captain Roy Ilegbodu, the airline’s CEO, Union Bank Ltd; and Super Bravo Ltd. The matter has been adjourned to 18 and 19 May, 2026 for further hearing.

Further, Kaltungo testified that he tried to submit a Legal Opinion from the Office of the Solicitor General which he said buttressed his findings as an Investigator, but the cross-examination showed that the Legal Opinion was obtained long after the defendants were charged and the trial had started.

“The disclosure appeared to have indicted the evidence as a side issue and a frantic attempt to find a legal opinion to support an unfounded allegation.