Nwabuoku Engages SAN, Seeks Out-Of-Court Settlement, Court Grants Time To Negotiate With EFCC Over N1.96bn Fraud
Former Accountant-General of the Federation, AGF, Mr. Anamekwe Nwabuoku, who is facing trial over an alleged N1.96 billion fraud, on Wednesday, begged the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to give him time to negotiate with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The ex-Acting AGF, who is facing a nine-count charge, made the plea after the EFCC, through its lawyer, Mr. Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, informed the court that it had brought five more witnesses to testify in the matter.
Though he was represented at the proceeding by a lawyer, Mr. Isidore Udenko, the defendant told the court that he had engaged the services of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, to help broker an out-of-court settlement of the case.
Udenko noted that the matter proceeded to trial after the defendant’s initial attempt to reach an agreement with the anti-graft agency failed.
On his part, EFCC’s lawyer, Iheanacho, SAN, said he was not opposed to the defendant’s request.
“Even though our five witnesses are in court and we are ready to proceed with the trial, if the defendant’s request serves the interest of justice, we will not oppose it,” the prosecution counsel added.
Consequently, Justice James Omotosho deferred further proceedings in the case till March 13.
The trial judge adjourned the case for either a report on the settlement or the continuation of the hearing.
It will be recalled that former Accountant-General of the Federation, AGF, Mr. Anamekwe Nwabuoku, was, in May 2022, appointed to temporarily take charge of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) after the then AGF, Ahmed Idris, was suspended from office and eventually placed on trial for allegedly laundering public funds totaling about N80.2 billion.
The EFCC later alleged that the Acting AGF, Nwabuoku, had, before his appointment, also misappropriated public funds.
Investigations into the allegation led to his removal from office in July 2022, a few weeks after he was appointed.
He was subsequently charged to court alongside a Director in the Federal Civil Service, Mr. Felix Nweke.
However, the EFCC later amended the charge and delisted Nweke as the second defendant after he agreed to testify against the former Acting AGF.
In the amended charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/240/24, the EFCC alleged that Nwabuoku committed an offence contrary to Section 18 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011, as amended by Act No. 1 of 2012, and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
The court had earlier heard how the defendant used four different companies to siphon public funds amounting to about N1.96 billion.
His former co-defendant, Nweke, made the revelation after he took the witness stand to testify as the second prosecution witness (PW-2).
In his evidence-in-chief, Nweke told the court that, in a bid to conceal the fraud, the looted funds were channeled into bank accounts for which one Gideon Joseph was the sole signatory.
