EFCC will on May 23 arriagn former aviation minister, Hadi Sirika and his brother, Ahmad before the Garki Division of the FCT High Court on fresh eight-count charge.

They were slated to be arraigned before Justice Suleman Belgore, but the arraignment was stalled because Mr Sirika and his brother were absent from court.

The EFCC had filed an eight-count charge bordering on abuse of office, criminal breach of trust, and use of position for gratification against the former minister under former President Muhammadu Buhari, his brother, and a company, Enginos Nigeria Limited.

The anti-corruption commission had alleged that Sirika conferred an unfair advantage upon Enginos Nigeria Limited, whose alter ego is his biological brother, Ahmad, by using his position to influence the award of a contract for the construction of a terminal building at Katsina Airport for the sum of N1,345,586,500.

EFCC further alleged that the former minister used his position to influence the award of a contract for the establishment of a Fire Truck Maintenance and Refurbishment Centre at Katsina Airport for N3,811,497,685.

It also, among other things, alleged that Ahmad and Enginos Nigeria Limited were in possession of an aggregate sum of N2,337,840,674.16, which they knew indirectly represented the proceeds of the former minister’s criminal conduct.

According to the EFCC, the offence was committed in Abuja between August 2022 and May 2023. 

When the case was called earlier, the prosecuting counsel, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, informed the court that the defendants were not in court.

According to him, the defendants’ counsel had informed him that the defendants were not in Abuja and that they had yet to be served the charges filed against them in court.

Mr Atolagbe further informed the court that the defendants were not in EFCC custody, having been granted administrative bail. However, he told the court that the prosecution would amend the charge against the defendants earlier filed in court.

Counsel for the defendants, Olaniyi Anjorin, confirmed to the court that Mr Atolagbe’s statements about his clients were correct.

Following the prosecution’s request for an adjournment so that the defendants could attend court to take their pleas, Justice Belgore adjourned until May 23 for the arraignment of the former minister and orders.

The EFCC arraigned Mr Sirika, his daughter Fatima Hadi Sirika, his son-in-law Jalal Sule Hamma, and Al Daruq Investment Limited before Justice Sylvanus Oriji, also of the Maitama Division of the FCT High Court, on May 9 on an alleged N4.1 billion contract fraud.

The four defendants were charged with contract fraud, corruption, and gratification. However, they pleaded not guilty to the charges EFCC had preferred against them.

Following their not-guilty pleas, Justice Oriji subsequently admitted each of them to a bail of N100 million with two sureties each in like sum.

The judge ruled that each of their sureties must depose to an affidavit of means, while one of the two sureties for each of them must possess landed property within the Abuja council covered by a valid Certificate of Occupancy duly signed by the FCT minister.

(NAN)