The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says
Orji Kalu, former Abia state governor, will face immediate retrial for money
laundering.
The supreme court voided Kalu’s conviction on Friday. He had
been sentenced to 12 years in jail by a federal high court before the apex
court nullified his conviction.
Although the supreme court did not acquit him of the charges
of money laundering, the court upturned the verdict of the trial court on the
grounds that Mohammed Liman, the judge who heard the case, was no longer a
judge of the federal high court at the time he handled and delivered judgment
on the matter.
In a statement hours after the apex court’s decision, the
EFCC said it will begin the prosecution of Kalu immediately.
The anti-graft agency described the judgment as a technical ambush
against the trial of the former governor.
”The attention of the Economic And Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to the judgment of the Supreme Court
nullifying the trial of a former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu , his firm,
Slok Nigeria Limited and Jones Udeogu, a former Director of Finance and Account
of Abia State Government and ordering their fresh trial at the lower court,” it
said in a statement issued by Dele Oyewale, its spokesman.
”The apex court based its verdict on the grounds that
Justice Mohammed Idris, who convicted Kalu and others had been elevated to the
Court of Appeal before the judgment and returned to the lower court to deliver
the judgment which it considered as illegal.
”The EFCC considers the judgment of the apex court as quite
unfortunate . It is a technical ambush against the trial of the former
governor.
”The Commission is prepared for a fresh and immediate trial
of the case because its evidences against Kalu and others are overwhelming. The
corruption charges against Kalu still subsist because the Supreme Court did not
acquit him of them. The entire prosecutorial machinery of the EFCC would be
launched in a fresh trial where justice is bound to be served in due course.”
Kalu was tried on 39 counts of money laundering to the tune
of N7.1 billion.
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