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General News of Tuesday, 2 February 2021

Source: thenationonlineng.net

Alleged N7.65b fraud: Court to reopen Kalu’s, others’ trial today

Former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu Former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu

A Federal High Court in Abuja will today reopen the N7.65 billion fraud case against former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, now the senator representing Abia North on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Kalu is to be re-arraigned along with his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited, and a former Director of Finance in Abia State, Jones Udeogu, for allegedly diverting the N7.65 billion from the state’s treasury while Kalu was governor.

Today’s reopening of the case by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is in obeying a Supreme Court order in its judgment of May 8, 2020.

Although they were earlier tried at the Lagos Division, the new trial would be conducted before Justice Inyang Ekwo of Court Five at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

A source at the EFCC said the agency was ready to prove its case again since most of the evidences are documentary.

After a trial that last over 10 years, a Federal High Court in Lagos, in a judgment on December 5, 2019, convicted Kalu and the two others on a 27-count charge the EFCC filed against them.

While Kalu got 12 years’ imprisonment, Udeogu was sentenced to 10 years.

The court ordered that Slok should be wound up and its assets forfeited to the Federal Government.

But, in a judgment on May 8, 2020, in an appeal by Udeogu, the Supreme Court quashed the trial, set aside their conviction and ordered a re-trial at the Federal High Court.

The Supreme Court faulted the fiat issued to the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, by the President of the Court of Appeal, acting under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) to conclude the case.

Justice Idris was elevated to the Court of Appeal midway into the trial, following which Kalu’s lawyer, acting under Section 396(7) of the ACJA, applied to the President of the Court of Appeal for a fiat to enable the judge return to the Federal High Court to conclude the trial.

The Supreme Court, in its judgment, held that Justice Idris was already elevated to the Court of Appeal at the time he convicted Kalu and the others.

It added that Justice Idris was no longer a judge of the Federal High Court as at December 5, 2019, when he sentenced Kalu and his co-defendants.