Skip to main content

Alleged N190m Fraud: Court Discharges Oronsaye

An FCT High Court, Maitama, on Tuesday discharged Steve Oronsaye, former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, of the N190 million corruption charges levelled against him.
Oronsaye was also the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force, set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
He was docked on a seven-count charge, bordering on breach of trust and diversion of N190 million meant for the committee he chaired.
The judge, Justice Olasumbo Goodluck, in her ruling on the no-case submission filed by Oronsaye, held that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against Oronsaye.
“There was contradictory evidence by the prosecution witnesses on whether the defendant was still the head of service as at the time he chaired the committee.
“The court seems to discredit the evidence, suffice it to say that there is no evidence linking the accused with the statutory element and ingredients of the offence with which he is charged.
“The court of trial must as a matter of law discharge him because it has no business scanting for evidence that is nowhere to be found.
“I have looked through the case and I am unable to see any justifications for this case.
“The defendant is hereby discharged“ she held.
The prosecution closed its case on November 15 after calling six witnesses to testify.
On December 9, the defence filed no-case submission, on the ground that the prosecution had no case against the defendant.
In his submission, the defence counsel Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), argued that there were omissions of essential elements in the charges against his client.
He said on that account the charges were imperfect.
Agabi said that the charge was initially 2-count, later amended to 7-count.
The lawyer said that was a sign that something was wrong with the charge from the beginning.
He said that the prosecution did not specify the amount that was entrusted to the defendant, nor the mandate of the committee the defendant chaired.
Agabi also said that no evidence of personal use of the fund that the defendant was accused of misusing, but mere allegations.
He said that no offence proven by prosecution to warrant the defendant to enter defence and urged the court to grant his no-case submission.
Responding, the prosecuting counsel, Mr Offem Uket, told the court that the prosecution has proved its case, adding that the defendant should enter his defence.
Uket said that it was not right to bring up the issue of imperfection of charges now, as it was against the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, (ACJA) 2015.
He urged the court to dismiss the no- case submission.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Two teenagers arrested for raping 14-year-old girl in Ogun State

                            Two teenagers, Abiodun Ishola (19) and Kehinde Oloyede (18), have been arrested by the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly gang-raping a 14-year-old girl in Obantoko. The Command Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspects were arrested April 28, 2018 following a complaint from the victim who reported to the police. He said the victim, a hairdressing apprentice, said she was going to her boss’ shop on that day, and unknown to her, there was restriction of movement due to a sanitation exercise. He said one of the suspects, Ishola, who was sitting down in front of his father’s house informed her of the restriction of movement and asked her to come and stay in their house till the exercise ended. The victim told the police that while she was staying with Ishola, he took her bag inside...
Post a Comment
Read more

Woman cuts off her husband's penis because she suspect him of cheating

A wife chopped off her husband's penis with a pair of scissors while he was brushing his teeth because she suspected he was cheating after starting a new job. The man, named only as Li, from the Jiangxi Province city of Fengcheng, told shocked medics that his wife maimed his genitals in a desperate attempt for him not to stray. He said his possessive wife attacked him while he was naked in the bathroom at about 7.30 in the morning. After she inflicted the injury on him, he managed to cover his blood-drenched groin to stop the bleeding before taking himself to a hospital. Doctors said they had successfully reattached Li’s penis but warned him to be extra careful while recovering. But reports from Knews and Sohu claim that even if he heals properly, he might never be able to have sex properly again as a sudden erection could damage new blood vessels. Police are said to be investigating the case.
Post a Comment
Read more

EFCC kicks against the acquittal of ex-Sokoto governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, vows to appeal judgement

                      EFCC has described as “shocking and unacceptable”, the ruling by Justice Bello Abbas of the Sokoto State High Court which on July 31 discharged and acquitted a former governor of Sokoto State Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa and four others of a 22 count charge of conspiracy, criminal misappropriation, theft and receiving of stolen funds. Others acquitted alongside Bafarawa are Beedash Nigeria Limited, Nasdabap Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Nasiru Dalhatu Bafarawa and Alhaji Salihu Maibuhu Gummi. In the course of the trial EFCC had called nine witnesses and presented several documents that were admitted in evidence while the defendants called only six witnesses. Surprisingly, Justice Abbas discharged and acquitted the accused persons of all counts on the premise that the evidence presented by the prosecution were “mere hearsay”, that there were “no documentary evidence” to back up the claim of witnesses...
Post a Comment
Read more