Trial Delayed: Court Postpones Emefiele’s Case Over Alleged N6.9bn Fraud
Tuesday saw another delay in the anticipated new arraignment of suspended CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele before the Maitama-based High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, or FCT.
The Federal Government filed a 20-count corruption indictment before the court, but neither Emefiele nor his co-defendant, Mrs. Saadat Yaro, were present for the proceedings.
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Emefiele’s case was not on the court’s cause list, even though trial Justice Hamza Muazu, who is serving as the vacation judge, was on the bench.
Vanguard reports that the case could not proceed as scheduled due to fresh developments.
“Because of the developments, my lord had to suspend the arraignment. A new return date will be communicated to all the parties,” the official added.
In the meantime, signs suggested on Tuesday that the troubled suspended CBN governor would be looking at a plea agreement with FG.
The move to settle the lawsuit outside of court was at the request of the former CBN CEO, according to one of the defence attorneys in the case who dropped the clue to newsmen.
“The parties are in talks and hopefully the matter will not proceed to trial. We are exploring a plea bargain arrangement. We have asked the court to give us at least two weeks,” the lawyer added.
While Mr. Kehinde Akinlolu, SAN, Emefiele’s attorney, stated that his client would not be arraigned as scheduled, he remained mute regarding the plea agreement.
He said that Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court, might set the new trial date.
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In criminal proceedings, a plea bargain is a negotiated provision of settlement that enables the defendant to admit guilt to a lower offence or charge in exchange for a less sentence or the charges being dropped.
The trial court subsequently accepts the terms of the plea deal reached between the prosecution and the defendant and uses them as the basis for its decision.
Such arrangements are allowed under Sections 270(1) and (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015.
It will be recalled that Emefiele’s arraignment was equally stalled on August 17, following the absence of the 2nd defendant, Mrs. Yaro, who is a staff of the apex bank.
The Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, DPPF, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, who is prosecuting the case for the Federal Government, had informed the court that Mrs. Yaro had taken ill.
A company, April 1616 Investment Limited, was cited as the third defendant in the charge, which borders on conspiracy, procurement fraud, and an allegation that the suspended CBN governor conferred corrupt advantages on himself and his associates.
Specifically, FG, alleged that Emefiele had while he held sway as head of the apex bank, awarded contracts to the company which had Mrs. Yaro, a staff of the bank, as its Director.
It alleged that the contract included the purchase of over 98 exotic vehicles and armoured buses that were valued at about N6.9 billion.
A few of the products the defendants purchased between 2018 and 2020, according to the prosecution, were 84 Toyota Hilux cars, 10 armoured Mercedes Benz buses, three Toyota Landcruisers, and one Toyota Avalon.
Stanley Alvan, the director of procurement at the CBN, Mike Agboro, Tahir Jafar, David Usman, and bank executives were among those scheduled to testify in the case.
The Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, was alleged to have been broken by the defendants on a number of occasions.
A day after President Bola Tinubu dismissed Emefiele from his position as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, DSS agents detained him at his home in Lagos’ Ikoyi neighbourhood.
On July 25, he was subsequently charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition on two counts and hauled before the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Emefiele was given bail by the court in the amount of N20 million with one surety in the same amount, but he was unable to get it back because the DSS re-arrested him inside the courthouse, causing its operatives to physically assault a senior prison official.
Following the withdrawal and dismissal of the initial charge against him, Emefiele was later flown to Abuja to take the current case.
