Court remands ex-AGF, others in prison over N109bn scam

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has ordered that the former Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, and two others be remanded in custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) in Kuje, over N109 billion fraud.

Justice Adeyemi Ajayi gave the order on Friday pending the hearing of their bail applications on July 27.

Other co-defendants with Idris are Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Ltd.

The former AGF and his co-defendants were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) wherein they all pleaded not guilty.

They are being prosecuted on a 14-count charge of stealing and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N109, 485,572,691.9.

According to the EFCC, the accused persons, between February and December, 2021, at Abuja, accepted from Olusegun Akindele a gratification in the aggregate sum of N15.1 billion.

The act, says EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), contravenes Section 155 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 and punishable under the same Section, being public servants.

The offence, the anti-graft agency said, was punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.

The sum was converted to the United States Dollars by the said Olusegun Akindele and which sum did not form part of his lawful remuneration but as a motive for accelerating the payment of 13 per cent derivation to the nine oil producing states through the office of the AGF.

Count eight reads:

“That you, Ahmed Idris while being the Accountant General of the Federation and Godfrey Olusegun Akindele while being the Technical Assistant to the Accountant General of the Federation between February and November, 2021, at Abuja in the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, in such capacity, entrusted with certain property, to wit: N84,390,000,000, committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property, when you dishonestly received the said sum from the Federal Government of Nigeria through Godfrey Olusegun Akindele trading under the name and style of Olusegun Akindele & Co.”

It could be recalled that the Accountant-General of Federation was arrested over alleged money laundering and diversion of public funds after he was intercepted in Kano by EFCC operatives.

Consequently, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zanaib Ahmed suspended him indefinitely two days after his arrest by anti-graft agents.

EFCC later secured a court order to detain the embattled Accountant-General for more days while investigation into his matter continued.

EFCC detectives later made startling discoveries about some transactions in the office of the Accountant-General who was initially accused of alleged N80 billion fraud.

Findings revealed another alleged N90 billion scam perpetrated in the office of the Accountant-General bringing the total sum to some N170 billion.

—

©Copyright 2022 News Band

(If you would like to receive CURRENT NEWS updates from News Band on WhatsApp, join here; for Telegram, join here. If the group is full, send WhatsApp/Telegram message to +234 905 038 2526)

For Diaspora Digital Media Updates click on Whatsapp, or Telegram. For eyewitness accounts/ reports/ articles, write to: citizenreports@diasporadigitalmedia.com. Follow us on X (Fomerly Twitter) or Facebook