•Supreme Court, Abuja - judicial-administrative heart of the superstructure of Capitalism Nigeriana
The
Federal Government has hired a former International Criminal Court
(ICC) prosecutor, Charles Adeogun-Philips, to lead its team of lawyers
to prosecute the Supreme Court Registrar and others for alleged N2.2b
fraud.
But the arraignment of the three senior
officials of the apex court was put off yesterday by Justice Abba
Mohammed of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Jabi,
Abuja because one of the Supreme Court officials, Muhammed Sharif, was
absent.
The Federal Government on November 3
filed a nine-count charge against Chief Registrar Ahmed Saleh, Sharif
and Rilwanu Lawal (who are both officials of the court’s Account
Department.)
They are charged with conspiracy and
criminal breach of trust for allegedly diverting N2.2billion belonging
to the apex court and receiving gratification as public officers.
The three officials are also accused of receiving N74.4m gratification from contractors between 2009 and 2016.
The contractors from which they
allegedly received the gratification are Willysdave Ltd., Welcon Nig.
Ltd., Dean Musa Nig. Ltd., Ababia Ventures Ltd. and MBR Computers Ltd.
On November 8, Justice Mohammed granted a
request by prosecution lawyer Hajara Yusuf for time to produce the
three defendants in court for arraignment, following which the court
adjourned till November 17 for arraignment.
Saleh and Lawal were in court. Sharif was absent.
Garba Tetengi (SAN), who announced
appearance for Sharif, said he was ill and was on admission at the
hospital. He sought an adjournment, which other defence lawyers –
Abdulhakeem Mustapha – SAN – (for Saleh) and I.K Sanusi – SAN (for
Lawal) did not object.
The Director of Public Prosecutions of
the Federation (DPPF), Mohammed Umar, who led the prosecution team,
later yielded proceedings to Adeogun-Philips, who spoke for the
prosecution.
Umar said the Attorney-General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), had in
exercising his powers under Section 174(1) of the Constitution, elected
to engage an international lawyer to conduct prosecution in the case.
Adeogun-Philips said he was unhappy that
Tetengi could not provide any document to show that Sharif was on
admission in the hospital.
Justice Mohammed rescheduled the arraignment for December 15.
Culled from Nation
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