N7.7bn Fraud: Court Orders Orji Kalu To Appear In 7 Days

A Federal High Court in Lagos has given Former Governor of Abia State Orji Kalu, seven days to appear before it.

The High Court Judge, Mohammed Idris gave the order on Monday at the resumed hearing of the case.

Kalu, who was absent at the hearing is facing trial over allegations of N7.65 billion fraud.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, during the trial accused the ex-governor of deliberately jumping bail in an attempt to frustrate the case.

The commission is prosecuting Kalu, together with his former Commissioner for Finance, Ude Udeogo, and a company, Slok Nigeria Ltd for allegedly diverting over N7.1billion from the Abia State Government’s treasury, during Kalu’s tenure as Governor, 11 years ago.

“Things must be done in accordance with the law. In my own view, what happened is that the 1st defendant has jumped bail. This is an attempt to further frustrate this trial because no application was made to the court to travel, said Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) EFCC’s prosecutor.

“I am not aware when the 1st defendant wanted to travel. We only got to know that the 1st defendant travelled abroad for medical treatment through a statement by his aide.

Recall that Kalu’s media aide, Kunle Oyewunmi, had in a statement on Friday claimed that the ex-governor flew to Germany last Monday for “a major surgery” to address “an undisclosed and life-threatening ailment.”

“I urge Your Lordship to treat the absence of the 1st defendant that he has jumped bail,” Jacobs added.

The matter was adjourned till November 12, 2018, for the continuation of the trial.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) had in October cleared Orji Uzor Kalu, to contest the party’s senatorial primary to represent Abia North at the National Assembly, ahead of the 2019 general election.

Kalu was Abia State Governor for eight years, from 1999 to 2003.