NATION

Ex-SGF Bachir Lawal freed from N544m fraud trial

Babachir Lawal, a former secretary of the government of the federation, has been freed from a N544 million fraud trial.

The federal high court in Abuja Friday discharged and acquitted the former SGF of the allegation preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Equally freed are five others with whom Lawal faced the trial. They are Hamidu Lawal; Suleiman Abubakar; Apeh Monday, Rholavision Engineering Limited, and Josmon Technologies Limited

Trial judge, Charles Agbaza, in his ruling said that the EFCC failed to establish a prima facie case against the Ex-SGF and the co-defendants.

He held that none of the prosecution witnesses called by the EFCC could establish an offence against the defendants.

The judge also said that EFCC failed to show that Lawal, as a member of the Presidential Initiative for the North-East, awarded the contract.

Justice Agbaza added the EFCC similarly failed to prove that Lawal, as a member of the Ministerial Tenders Board, vetted and gave approval for the execution of the disputed contract.

Again, the judge said that the EFCC equally did not show that Lawal had a link with the Bureau of Public Procurement that issued a ‘certificate of no objection’ on the contract.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button