Monrovia, Liberia – APM Terminal’s Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Managing Director both testified in open court that their company had no part to play in the clearing of the containers that contained the US$100M in cocaine.
APM Terminals, in the opinion of Emeka Ogbaje, had no part in the examination and clearance of the containers. According to Ogbaje’s testimony, APM Terminals’ involvement in the whole logistical value chain is restricted to the discharge, storage, and release of containers as directed by the shipping line, customs, and the Liberia Revenue Authority.
On Wednesday, April 26, 2023, he revealed in court the documents that APM Terminals had received for the release of the containers, including one from the shipping lines and a delivery order informing them that the owner of the containers had satisfied his or her obligation to the shipping line.
“I have in my hand copy of delivery received from the shipping line for the two containers,” he testified.
Additionally, ” the second which related to relies on instruction from LRA is the custom system (Asycuda System ). As this system is synchronize, there is an interface between the custom system and our own system. Upon receipt of the delivery order of the shipping line we singular it into the Asyncuda system to know what instruction the LRA has given on where this container should go to, with respect of these two containers the instruction was under the field DP which means delivery point or privileges which will interpreted to me that it should go straight to the premises of the consignee where other custom process that were to be completed, ” he testified.
“I have in my possession the delivery order for both containers that I received from the shipping line,” Ogbaje continued. Additionally, I located the customized release printout from the Asycuda system, and lastly, I was able to locate the payment invoices for the consignees’ payments made for both containers.
APM Terminal was subpoenaed by the defense counsels to establish the role played in clearing the containers with tracking numbers MNBU 4070592 and SUBU6082664.
Meanwhile, the trial is expected to resume on Monday, May 1, 2023, in Criminal Court ‘C’ at the Temple of Justice.
Reported by: G. Watson Richards
Contact: +231880381808
