News

Court frees Jonathan’s ex-minister of N715m fraud charge

Former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs in the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Kabiru Turaki (SAN), has been discharged and acquitted of N715 million money laundering charge.

Justice Inyang Ekwo of Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, in a ruling on the no-case submission filed by the defence, said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had failed to link Turaki and his co-defendants with the offences contained in the 16-count charge.

He said that the prosecution could not establish a prima facie case against them.

Justice Ekwo said that the defendants dislodged all the evidence of the prosecution witnesses called in the matter during cross examination, describing the 12 witnesses relied on by EFCC as “tainted witnesses.”

The judge said that it was established during cross examination that Turaki was not a signatory to the account of the ministry and did not authorise any payment or make any transfer of funds.

He aligned with the argument that held the former minister was not a member of the Ministerial Tender Board and that there was no inflow of funds from the account of the ministry to Turaki’s company.

The EFCC had, in the 16-count charge, accused the ex-minister and others of unlawful and criminal misappropriation of N715 million.

The Star

Editor

Recent Posts

Tinubu: I won’t rest until Nigerians feel economic impacts in their pockets

President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians of better economic output, following the newly released third…

36 mins ago

Banks, others raise N2.7trn via rights, public issuance

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says more than N2.7 trillion has been raised in…

2 hours ago

Champions League: Real Madrid’s Vinicius out of Liverpool clash

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior has suffered a hamstring injury, ruling him out of Wednesday’s…

2 hours ago

FG asks universities to establish sexual assault referral centres

The Federal Government has called on Nigerian universities to set up Sexual Assault Referral Centres…

3 hours ago

Court sends man to prison for raping 4-year-old girl

The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in the Ikeja area of Lagos State…

4 hours ago

Uba Sani: What my govt doing to end out-of-school children challenge in Kaduna

Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has described the large number of out-of-school children, including those…

5 hours ago

This website uses cookies.