The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on
Tuesday re-arraigned a former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, for an
alleged fraud of N7.65bn.
Kalu was re-arraigned alongside his company, Slok
Nigeria Limited, and Ude Udeogu, who served under him as the Director of
Finance and Account, Abia State Government House.
The re-arraignment of the defendants before the
Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday followed an amendment to the
charges filed against them 11 years ago. With the amendment, the prosecution increased the number of charges against the defendants from the initial 34 to 39. The amount quoted to have been allegedly diverted,
stolen and laundered by the defendants was also increased from N2.9bn
to N7.65bn.
The prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Rotimi
Jacobs (SAN), said the amendment to the charges became necessary in view
of new facts revealed by some of the19 witnesses who had testified
against Kalu and his co-defendants in court. The trial judge, Justice Mohammed
Idris, dismissed the objection raised by the defence counsel to the
amended charge sheet, paving the way for the re-arraignment of the
defendants.
In one of the counts, the EFCC alleged that Kalu,
who was Abia State Governor between 1999 and 2007, “did procure Slok
Nigeria Limited — a company solely owned by you and members of your
family — to retain in its account, domiciled with the then Inland Bank
Plc, Apapa branch, Lagos, an aggregate sum of N7,197,871,208.7 on your
behalf.” The prosecution claimed that the N7.1bn “formed
part of the funds illegally derived from the treasury of the Abia State
Government and which was converted into several bank drafts before they
were paid into the said company’s account.”
The prosecuting counsel, Jacobs, said the
ex-governor violated Section 17(c) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition)
Act, 2004, and was liable to be punished under Section 16 of the same
Act.
Apart from the N7.1bn, which he was accused of
laundering, the ex-governor and the other defendants were also accused
of receiving a total of N460m allegedly stolen from the Abia State
Government treasury between July and December 2002. The prosecutor said they breached Section 427 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap 77, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990.
On their part, Udeogu, Slok Nigeria Limited, one
Emeka Abone, said to be at large, and another fellow, Michael Udo, also
at large, were accused of collaborating with Kalu to conceal the
“genuine origin” of allegedly stolen funds. The EFCC said they are liable to be punished under Section 14(1)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004. When the charges were read to Kalu, Udeogu and
Slok Nigeria Limited, however, they pleaded not guilty as they had done
during their previous arraignments.
At the request of their lawyers, Justice Idris
allowed them to continue with the bail granted them 11 years ago when
they werfirst arraigned. Meanwhile, the defence counsel – Messrs Gordy
Uche, Solo Akuma and K.C. Nwofor, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria –
called the court’s attention to the no-case submissions they had filed
on behalf of their clients since May when the prosecution closed its
case after calling a total of 19 witnesses to prove the charges.
They also informed the court that they had each
been served with a 126-page written address by the prosecutor in
response to the no-case submissions. They pleaded with the court for a short
adjournment to enable them to file a reply to the 126-page document and
return to court to adopt same. Justice Idris granted the prayer and adjourned till July 25, 2018 for further proceedings.
Source: Abiafacts
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