The Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday adjourned sine die (indefinitely) the trial of a former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, who is being prosecuted for an alleged fraud of N7.65bn.
Justice Mohammed Idris, while adjourning the case indefinitely, noted that the fiat given to him by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, elapsed at the end of September.
The judge, however, said he was disposed to continuing with the case if the prosecution or the defence applied for a fresh fiat.
The 11-year-old case was transferred to Justice Idris late 2016 and Kalu and his company, Slok Nigeria Limited; and Ude Udeogu, a former Director of Finance and Accounts at the Abia State Government House were on October 31, 2016, re-arraigned before the judge.
Shortly after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission closed its case after calling a total of 19 witnesses, the judge was in June elevated to the Court of Appeal.
In order to allow him to continue with the case, however, Kalu’s lead lawyer, Prof Awa Kalu (SAN), applied to Justice Bulkachuwa for a fiat to enable Justice Idris to continue to hear and conclude the case.
In granting the fiat, Justice Bulkachuwa said the case must be concluded by the end of September.
However, after Justice Idris dismissed the defendants’ no-case submission on July 31, the defendants had refused to open their defence.
Rather they first sought a stay of proceedings, which the judge dismissed; they later challenged the jurisdiction of the judge to hear the case, arguing that he was no longer a judge of the high court.
In one of the charges, the EFCC alleged that Kalu, who was Abia State Governor between 1999 and 2007, “did procure Slok Nigeria Limited – company solely owned by you and members of your family – to retain in its account, domiciled with the then Inland Bank Plc, Apapa branch, Lagos, an aggregate sum of N7,197,871,208.7 on your behalf.”
The prosecution claimed that the N7.1bn “formed part of the funds illegally derived from the treasury of the Abia State Government and which was converted into several bank drafts before they were paid into the said company’s account.”
The prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), said the ex-governor violated Section 17(c) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, and was liable to be punished under Section 16 of the same Act.
