Crimes

N544m fraud: Court discharges, acquits ex-SGF Lawal, others

An Abuja High Court has discharged and acquitted a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, and five others from the N544 million contract fraud offence preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Lawal was prosecuted by the EFCC alongside his younger brother, Hamidu Lawal, Suleiman Abubakar; Apeh Monday, and two companies.

They faced a 10-count charge bordering on fraud relating to the removal of evasive plant species to the tune of N544 million for which they pleaded not guilty.

However, the presiding judge, Justice Charles Agbaza, on Friday, said the EFCC failed to establish a case against Lawal and other defendants.

Justice Agbaza, while ruling on a no-case submission made by Babachir Lawal, held that no ingredient of any offence was made out by the 11 witnesses who testified for the anti-graft agency.

The judge said the EFCC did not establish that the former SGF was either a member of the Presidential Initiative for North-East that awarded the contract, or a member of the Ministerial Tenders Board that vetted and gave approval to the disputed contract.

Justice Agbaza added that the EFCC also failed to link Lawal with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) that issued a certificate of no objection to the contract before it was awarded.

The presiding judge, therefore, discharged and acquitted all the defendants in the 10-count criminal charges against them for want of evidence to link them with the purported offences.

The Star