A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has discharged and acquitted a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Babachir Lawal and five others from the N544M Contract Fraud offenses brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The Court on Friday held that the anti-graft agency failed woefully to establish prima facie case against the ex-SGF and the co-defendants.
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In a ruling on no case submission made by Babachir Lawal and others, Justice Charles Agbaza held that no ingredients of any offense was made out by the 11 witnesses that testified for the EFCC.
The trial Judge held that EFCC did not establish that Babachir Lawal was either a member of the Presidential Initiative for North East, PINE, that awarded the contract, or a member of the Ministerial Tenders Board that vetted and gave approval to the disputed contract.
Justice Agbaza further held that EFCC also failed to link Babachir Lawal with the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, which issued a certificate of no objection to the contract before it was awarded.
Justice Charles Agbaza discharged and acquitted all the defendants in the 10-count criminal charges against them for “want of evidence to link them with the purported offenses.”
