N1.8bn fraud: Court orders arrest of three electrical energy company officers
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court Abuja issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for 3 officers of Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency.
The trial decide ordered the arrest of Emmanuel Titus, Umar Karaye, and Henrietta Okojie for refusing to seem in courtroom on Thursday for his or her scheduled arraignment.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, in separate expenses filed in opposition to the trio, charged the defendants with 4 counts of felony cost bordering on theft of public funds meant to supply electrical energy to rural communities throughout the nation.
The prosecution counsel, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, an Assistant Chief Legal Officer on the ICPC, informed the decide that Titus, Karaye, and Okojie have been served with copies of the fees and duly knowledgeable of at present’s proceedings however selected to keep away from what he termed “by their own volition.”
He knowledgeable the courtroom that the defendants have been on administrative bail.
However, he requested the courtroom to difficulty a bench warrant for his or her arrests as a result of they have been absent for his or her scheduled arraignment.
The prosecution lawyer cited Sections 114, 124, and 184 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act in praying the courtroom to order their arrest.
In a brief ruling, Justice Nwite ordered their arrest.
“The defendants decided not to come to court. I am convinced that the defendants deliberately absented themselves from the court,” Mr Nwite stated.
He proceeded to order ICPC to arrest and produce all three defendants earlier than the courtroom on the subsequent adjourned date.
Justice Nwite adjourned Titus and Karaye’s arraignment for June 13 and Okojie’s until June 14.
Meanwhile, Usman Kwakwa was current in courtroom at present for his arraignment.
Kwakwa, charged with the identical offences in a separate go well with, was docked earlier than the courtroom for his involvement in N1.853bn fraud.
After the cost was learn to him, he pleaded not responsible to all 4 counts cost.
Justice Nwite granted Kwakwa N50 million bail following Akponimisingha’s non-objection to his bail request.
Part of the four-count cost in opposition to Titus acknowledged that he defrauded the REA of N261 million.
The ICPC stated the defendant obtained the funds in several tranches via his First Bank account in March 2023 underneath the “false pretence of project supervision,” violating the Advance Fraud and Other Related Offences Act of 2006.
According to the proof of proof connected to the fees, the monies have been “illegally paid out to the defendants from the Government Integrated Financial Management System without requisite approvals.”
As for Karaye’s four-count cost bordering on his involvement in an N165 million fraud, ICPC acknowledged that the stolen funds have been moved out of presidency coffers via the GIFMIS fee platform as fee for “project supervision” in March 2023.
On Okojie’s half, the Commission accused her of cornering N342 million via her Access Bank account underneath the guise of venture supervision in breach of the Advance Fraud and Other Related Offences Act of 2006.
