EFCC ‘Mistakenly’ Names Min Of Finance In N109b Fraud Charge Against Suspended AGF Ahmed Idris, Others

There was mild drama at the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday when the charge sheets were read before the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, and the name of the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Aliyu Ahmed, was listed in Count 11.

The EFCC arraigned Idris, Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited before the court.

They were charged on 14 counts of unlawful gratification, stealing and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N109, 485,572,691.9

However, when count 11 was read , the Registrar of the court said that Mohammed Kudus Usman while being a director in the AGF and Aliyu Ahmed, Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance , knowingly acquired a consultancy interest for their personal motive.

But EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Jacob expressed shock and prayed the court to expunge the phrase capturing the Ministry of Finance.

He added that it was a typographical error( looking back at his junior lawyers), saying that the judge should delete the Federal Ministry of Finance and the permanent secretary phrase from the (Count 11) charge sheet.

Uche SAN who represented Idris, did not object to Jacob’s submission.

Subsequently, the court expunged it and the registrar read Count 11 again isolating only Usman.

They all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The defense counsel asked the court not to remand their clients.

Recall that the former AGF was apprehended on May 16 and detained by the EFCC but was granted administrative bail on June 2.