A former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Temisan Omatseye, has told the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos that he did not interfere with procurement process at the agency.
Omatseye, who is standing trial for alleged contract rigging since 2010, while being cross examined by counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Chief Godwin Obla, SAN, said: “My lord, I didn’t rig any bidding process while I was the Director-General of NIMASA. Every bidding process was handled by the Procurement Department. I only signed what was brought to me for approval. In fact, my Lord, that is why the Procurement Act was created.
“It separated the duties of the Director-General from those of the Director of Procurement. I never interfered with the process. If I did, I would be going against the Procurement Act.”
On how the N100 million quoted by Daniels Holdings for the supply of generating sets increased, Omatseye said the Procurement Act allows the agency to add value added tax (VAT), procurement tax, interest tax and others.
“That is how we arrived at N129million, though we didn’t purchase the said generating set,” he said, adding that the contract was cancelled.
“Having received it from the registry department, I would then minute it to the necessary office which now worked on it. But my lord, the document before me here has none from that department. Even their stamp is not on any of the documents before me here in court,” he added.
Trial continues on tomorrow.
