Trial of Nigerian former Accountant-General, Idris for N109billion fraud continues

The missing statement of the former Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, on Wednesday stalled his trial.

Idris is on trial for corruption and misappropriation to the tune of N109 billion.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on October 27, 2022, re-arraigned Idris on 13 counts bordering on alleged misappropriation of the sum of N109 billion.

The former AGF was arraigned alongside Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited.

The accused persons were first arraigned on July 22, 2022, before a vacation judge, Adeyemi Ajayi.

The anti-graft agency alleged that between February and December 2021, Idris accepted from Akindele, a gratification of N15.1 billion, which was allegedly a motive for accelerating the payment of 13 percent derivation to the nine oil-producing states in the Federation, through the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

The trial of the former AGF which was scheduled for Wednesday at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was however stalled over the disappearance of one of the statements he made to the EFCC during investigations.

The statement dated July 5, 2022, could not be located by the EFCC in its own file, in the file of the High Court as well as that of the defence team.

At Wednesday’s proceedings, EFCC through its counsel, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, had kick-started the trial within trial, following the denial by the ex-Accountant General that some of the statements he made to EFCC in respect of the N109 billion alleged fraud were made without his lawyers present.

The trial judge, Justice Halilu Yusuf, had ordered a trial within trial to authenticate the claim.

But whereas the EFCC had presented its witness, Hayatudeen Suleiman, for cross-examination on 13 different statements obtained from Idris, trouble arose when it was discovered that a statement dated July 5, 2022, and said to be vital to the trial could not be found in the bundles of documents uploaded to the court by EFCC.

The issue became worse when the anti-graft agency could not find the statement in its own case file.

The lead counsel for the former AGF’s legal team, Chris Uche, also told the court that the statement was not part of those supplied to him by the EFCC.

After consultations, Justice Yusuf fixed May 11, 2023 for the continuation of the trial within a trial and stated that the adjournment was at the instance of the EFCC.