N558m Scam: Ehindero, Former IGP, Appears In Court

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N558m Scam: Ehindero, Former IGP, Appears In Court

Written by Tunde Oyesina, Abuja Saturday, 22 September 2012

A former Inspector General of Police, Sunday Gabriel Ehindero and a former Commissioner of Police in charge of Budget, John Obaniyi, were, on Friday, docked before an Abuja High Court for allegedly misappropriating about N558 million belonging to the Police while at the helm of affairs at the Force Headquarters.

The accused persons were arraigned after their application, praying the court to strike out the amended six-count charge preferred against them by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for want of jurisdiction was dismissed.

They had told the court that the amended charges constituted an abuse of court process and that the proof of evidence did not link them to the offences allegedly committed.

They also asked the court to set aside the leave granted the prosecution to file the amended charges for lack of competence.

The court, in its ruling, held that there was sufficient evidence and prima facie evidence to warrant granting the prosecution leave to arraign the former Police boss and his co-accused, adding that the court had the jurisdiction to exercise that discretion.

The trial judge, Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi, consequently, dismissed the application.

The accused were subsequently arraigned but pleaded not guilty to the six-count charge slammed on them by the anti-graft agency.

The accused were alleged to have conspired with each other between May and November 2006 to have used their position to confer corrupt advantages upon themselves by allegedly placing N300 million out of the N558 million donated to the Nigeria Police Force by the Bayelsa State Government for the procurement of arms, ammunition and riot control equipment, in a fixed deposit account at Wema Bank Plc, where it yielded an interest of N9.8 million for them.

Ehindero and Obaniyi were also alleged to have placed another N200 million out of the donation to the Force, in a fixed deposit account at Intercontinental Bank Plc where an interest of N6.5 million was yielded for them.

They allegedly converted all the interests that accrued from the fixed deposits to their personal use.

The duo were equally accused of making a false statement to ICPC that the sum of N16.412 million was expended on operational duties of the officers of the police.

After pleading not guilty to the charges, counsel to Ehindero, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) urged the court to grant the former IG bail on self recognition as a former Inspector General of Police, a very senior member of the Bar and a holder of the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) honour, adding that Ehindero would never abscond from justice.

In the same vein, the second accused person, through his counsel, asked the court to admit him to bail on self recognition.

The prosecution did not oppose the application for the bail of the accused persons, but asked the court to impose conditions that would ensure that they showed up to face their trial.

Ruling on the bail application, Justice Oniyangi, while dismissing the oral application for bail on self recognition, admitted the accused persons to bail in the sum of N10 million each and a surety who must swear to an affidavit of means.

He further ordered that the accused persons be remanded at the Kuje Prison until the next adjourned date of November 12, 2012 if they failed to meet up the bail condition.

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