Court Dismisses ICPC’s Suit Against Ex-SEC DG Gwarzo

Mounir Gwarzo, former Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), must feel vindicated after an FCT High Court dismissed a suit filed against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Justice Olukayode Adeniyi dismissed ICPC’s six-count charge bordering on abuse of office on the grounds that the anti-graft agency failed to prove its case against Gwarzo.

Adeniyi delivered the ruling in a no-case submission filed by Gwarzo.

The ICPC had in the suit it filed in 2020 alleged that Gwarzo held a private interest as a director and shareholder of Outbound Investment Limited, a company which was awarded contracts by SEC under the ex-DG.

He was also accused of approving for himself N104 million as severance package for his service as a commissioner in the commission after he was named DG in 2015. He had served for more than two years as SEC’s Executive Commissioner of Operations Directorate.

Meanwhile, in April 2019, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf had dismissed a five-count charge bordering on fraud levelled against the former SEC boss by the ICPC.

The suits were filed after former finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, suspended Gwarzo as SEC DG in November 2017 for alleged breach of public service rules.

Amidst the lawsuits, persons privy to details of the matter at SEC had said that Gwarzo violated no laws as the board of SEC had in 2002 approved that a permanent commissioner who spent a minimum of two years in the commission is entitled to full benefits which can be monetized when leaving that office.

Gwarzo had voluntarily resigned his position on January 9, 2020, despite winning a case at the National Industrial Court which ordered his reinstatement as SEC DG.