Judiciary
THE month of February may not be starting well for Orji Uzor Kalu, former Abia State Governor. On Tuesday, February 2, a Federal High Court in Abuja, will reopen the N7.65billion fraud case against Kalu who is now a Senator representing the Abia North Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Kalu will be re-arraigned along with his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited and Jones Udeogu, a former director of Finance in Abia State, for allegedly diverting the N7.65billion from Abia State’s treasury.
The reopening of the case by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is in obedience to the order made by the Supreme Court in its judgment on May 8, 2020.
Although they were earlier tried at the Lagos division, the new trial would be conducted before Justice Inyang Ekwo of Court Five, at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
A source at the EFCC said the agency was ready to prove its case again since most of the evidences are documentary in nature.
Realnews reports that after a trial which lasted for more than 10 years, a Federal High Court in Lagos, in a judgment on December 5, 2019, convicted Kalu and the two others on a 27-count charge brought against them by the EFCC.
While Kalu got 12 years’ imprisonment, Udeogu was sentenced to 10 years. The court ordered that Slok should be wound up and its assets forfeited to the Nigerian government.
But, in a judgment on May 8, 2020, following an appeal by Udeogu, the Supreme Court quashed the trial, set aside their conviction and ordered a re-trial at the Federal High Court.
The Supreme Court faulted the fiat issued to Justice Mohammed Idris, the trial judge, by the President of the Court of Appeal, acting under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, to conclude the case.
Justice Idris was elevated to the Court of Appeal midway into the trial, following which Kalu’s lawyer, acting under Section 396(7) of the ACJA, applied to the President of the Court of Appeal for a fiat to enable the judge return to the Federal High Court to conclude the trial.
The Supreme Court, in its judgment, held that Justice Idris was already elevated to the Court of Appeal as at the time he sat and delivered the judgment convicting Kalu and the others.
It added that Justice Idris was no longer a judge of the Federal High Court as at December 5, 2019, when he gave the judgment convicting and sentencing Kalu and his co-defendants.
The Supreme Court further held that, Justice Idris, having been elevated to the Court of Appeal as Justice, could no longer return to the Federal High Court to sit as a judge.
It held that the Fiat that was issued to him by the Court of Appeal President pursuant to Section 396(7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, was unconstitutional. – with reports from The Nation
– Feb. 1, 2021 @ 7: 22 GMT |
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