Facts emerged late yesterday why the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) withdrew the charge against Supreme Court’s Chief Registrar, Ahmed Gambo Saleh and two others.
An official of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Hajara Yusuf announced the state’s decision to withdraw the charge against Saleh and others yesterday at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Jabi, Abuja.
Mrs. Yusuf was silent on the reason behind the sudden change of mind on the part of the prosecution.
But, investigation by The Nation revealed that the state’s decision to discontinue against Saleh was because it has planned to feature him in the trial of Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court.
Justice Ngwuta is being tried before Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Abuja on sundry charges including money laundering.
It was learnt that Saleh is billed to attend court on Thursday to testify as the prosecution witness when trial resumes in Justice Ngwuta’s case.
The Nation sighted a copy of an invitation to Saleh, informing him of the role he is billed to play in the case on Thursday.
The document, titled: “Subpoena ad testificandum/and duces tecum,” is dated January 23, 2017.
The office of AGF had on November 3 last year filed the nine-count charge marked: CR/13/2016 before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), accusing Saleh and others of diverting N2.2b public funds and receiving gratification.
Named with Saleh in the charge are Mahmud AbdurRahman Sharif and Rilwanu Lawal, who are official in the Supreme Court’s Account Department.
The office of the Attorney General of the Federation yesterday withdrew the N2.2b fraud charges brought against the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Ahmed Gambo Saleh and two other officials of the court.
The AGF had on November 3 last year filed nine-count charge marked: CR/13/2016 before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), accusing the defendants of diverting N2.2b public funds and receiving gratification.
Named with Saleh in the charge are Mahmud AbdurRahman Sharif and Rilwanu Lawal, who are official in the Supreme Court’s Account Department.
The prosecution had, before yesterday, tried without success to arraign the defendants. On every occasion, one of the defendants was always absent.
But, when the case was called yesterday, all the defendants were present. Prosecution lawyer, Hajara Yusuf, from the Federal Ministry of Justice, however informed the court that she was instructed to withdraw the charge brought against the three defendants.
Mrs. Yusuf was however silent on the reason behind the state’s decision to withdraw the charge.
The defence team, comprising Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), Tetengi Garba (SAN) and Sanusi A. O. (SAN) did not object to the prosecution’s decision to withdraw its charge.
Ruling, Justice Abba-Bello Mohammed granted the prosecution’s application and struck out the charge.
The defendants were, in the charge, accused of diverting N2.2b belonging to the Supreme Court into their UBA account with number 2027642863 between 2009 and 2016 contrary to Section 96 of the Penal Code Act and punishable under Section 97 Cap 532 of the Code.
They were also alleged to have collected gratification to the tune of N10million from Willysdave Limited, a contractor with the Supreme Court, between 2009 and 2016 contrary to Section 10 (a) (i) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 and punishable under the same section.
The three defendants were equally accused of obtaining gratification from Welcon Nigeria Limited to the tune of N6m and another N2.4m from the same contractor between 2009 and 2016.
They were alleged to have, on January 9, 2015, obtained a bribe of N16m from Dean Musa Nigeria Limited, a contractor to the Supreme Court.
Saleh, Sharif and Lawal were said to receive N19m from Ababia Ventures, a contractor to Supreme Court and another N21m gratification from MBR Computers Limited between 2009 and 2016.
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