The trial of a former Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris on N109 billion corruption charges has been stalled following a complaint by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that one of the statements he made during the investigation is said to be missing.
Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) High Court was forced to adjourn the trial to enable EFCC to put its house in order.
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Trial within trial commenced on Wednesday to enable the EFCC to establish that the statements made by the former Accountant General to the EFCC in respect of the N109 billion alleged fraud were made voluntarily following the denial at the last sitting.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, the prosecution witness
Hayatudeen Suleiman said the EFCC operative gave the circumstance upon which Ahmed Idris was interrogated on 13 different statements.
Trouble started when EFCC sought to examine the witness on the disputed statement but could not find the statement in its own case file. The statement dated July 5, 2022, and said to be vital to the trial could neither be found in the bundles of documents uploaded to the court by EFCC nor in that of the defence team.
Counsel for Ahmed Idris, Chris Uche, told the court that the statement was not part of those supplied to him by EFCC. He emphasized that the anti-graft agency for some reason had suppressed some documents and that the missing statement of the defendant may be one of the suppressed documents.
Effort by the trial judge to salvage the situation was unsuccessful as the statement could also not be found in the court’s record.
The EFCC’s lawyer, therefore, applied for an adjournment to enable him to search for the missing statement and serve on the defendant as required by law.
Justice Yusuf Halilu, therefore, adjourned to May 11, at the instance of the EFCC for a continuation of trial within the trial.
The defendants were first arraigned by EFCC on July 22, 2022, before a vacation judge, justice Adeyemi Ajayi and later re-arraigned on October 27, 2022, on a 13-count charge bordering on misappropriation of the sum of N109 billion.
Others arraigned alongside are Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Usman, and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited.
The EFCC alleged that between February and December 2021 Idris accepted from Akindele, a gratification of N15.1 billion, as a motive for accelerating the payment of 13 per cent derivation to the nine oil-producing states in the Federation, through the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
The anti-graft agency also alleged that N84.3 billion from the Federal Government’s account was converted by the first and second defendants between February and November. 2021
Editor: Ena Agbanoma
