I received money for use of vessel — witness

A witness in the fight over the ownership of $391,250 has admitted he received seven million Naira before his vessel was used to cart 16,676 metric tonnes of Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) from Nigeria to Ghana.

Prince Alexander Adeleke Oyinlola, had on July 16, 2014 denied receiving payment for services rendered in April 2013 when his lawyer led him to give his evidence-in-chief.
He also informed the court he was owed a little over $400,000 but he reversed his position at the court’s sitting in Accra yesterday and denied saying he did not receive payment.
Prince Oyinlola made the denials when counsel for Auxesia Energy Limited, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, produced a copy of a receipt showing Prince Oyinlola’s company had received seven million Naira as initial deposit before his vessel transported the LPFO.
Prince Oyinlola’s company, Soleushing Nigeria, is fighting Auxesia Energy Limited and Soleushing UK over the $391,250. But Auxesia Energy Limited insists it had no dealings with any of the two companies to warrant it to pay the money which had been withdrawn from its account and paid into the reserves of the Judicial Service.
The Financial Division of the High Court, presided over by Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, is currently gathering evidence from the parties to enable the court to determine the rightful owner of the amount.

Cross-examination
Answering questions under cross-examination from Mr Dame, the witness told the court he never said he had not been paid.
The witness also stated that Auxesia Energy Limited did not sign any contract with his company for the transportation of the LPFO but the company negotiated the charter fee.
He said he was not aware of the purchase price of the LPFO which Auxesia Energy Limited bought from Elder Chris Isibor.
According to the witness, he was not aware that Elder Isibor gave the cheque for $391,250 to the handler of the vessel named Gyide and stated further that rather, the Managing Director of Earth Petroleum, Mrs Faith Odulu, gave the cheque to his representative named Kayode.

Altered cheque
Mr Dame suggested to Prince Oyinlola that the cheque for $391,250 was not honoured because it had been forged but the witness explained that the cheque could not be cashed because the UT Bank staff said the cheque could not be cashed over the counter.

Charter party agreement
Mr Dame, on July 17, 2014 produced a charter party agreement (CPA) between Soleushing Nigeria and Spiral Oil and Gas and sought to tender it in evidence but Prince Oyinlola said that was not the agreement.
But Mr Justice Ajet-Nasam allowed it as an exhibit and implored the witness to produce a counter-document.
At the court’s sitting yesterday, Prince Oyinlola admitted that the CPA that was tendered on July 17, 2014 was indeed the original CPA but explained there was a renegotiated one which had not been signed.