Ten years
after his first arraignment, Saminu Turaki, a former governor of Jigawa State
was on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 re-arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, before Justice
Nnamdi
Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja on a 32-count charge
of fraud.
Turaki, a
two-term governor, is facing multiple charges bordering on criminal conspiracy,
stealing, money laundering and misappropriation of public funds.
After his
was arraigned in 2007, he went into hiding and was subsequently declared wanted
by the EFCC, for failing to present himself for trial. A warrant directing the
Inspector General of Police or his officers, as well as the EFCC, to arrest
him, was also issued by the court.
But attempts
to execute the warrant failed, as Turaki remained elusive until July 4, 2017
when operatives of the Commission finally apprehended him at a public function
in Abuja.
The
defendant who was in the dock to take his plea to a charge filed in July 2007,
pleaded not guilty to all the counts. Count 31 of the charge reads:
“That you,
Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, on or about 15th July, 2006 at Abuja, within the
jurisdiction of this Honorable Court did conspire with Natural Resources Ltd,
Arkel Construction Nigeria Ltd, Wildcat Construction Ltd and Ahmed Ibrahim
Mohammed (now at large) to launder the sum of N5,200,000,000.00 (Five Billion,
Two Hundred Million Naira ) and you
thereby committed an offence contrary to section 17 (A) of the Money Laundering
(Prohibition) Act 2004, and Punishable under Section 14 (1) of the same Act.”
Particulars
of count 32 read: “That you, Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, INC Natural Resources Ltd,
Arkel Construction Nigeria Ltd, Wildcat Construction Ltd and Ahmed Ibrahim
Mohammed (now at large) on or about 3rd May, 2006 at Abuja, with the
jurisdiction of this Honorable Court did collaborate in concealing the genuine
nature of the sum of $20,000,000.00 USD (Twenty Million United State Dollars)
which sum was derived from an illegal act and you thereby committed an offence
punishable under Section 14 (1) (b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act
2004.”
Upon his
plea, counsel to the EFCC, M. S. Abubakar, relying on Section 300 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 asked for a date to commence
trial.
However,
Turaki’s counsel, Ahmed Raji, SAN, through an oral application prayed the court
to admit the defendant to bail saying, “He is not an ordinary citizen”.
He added
that the defence was not aware of his arraignment today; otherwise they would
have come with a formal application.
Responding,
Abubakar opposed the oral application stressing that, “the defendant did not
come to court upon his free will, but was arrested pursuant to a bench warrant
issued in September 2014 by Justice Yahuza of the Federal High Court, Dutse.”
He added
that, “bail is to ensure attendance and from the antecedent of the defendant,
it is clear that if he is released, he would not be available to stand trial
and that would defeat the essence of bail”.
The vacation
judge, after hearing arguments from both sides, gave the counsel some time to
agree on bail terms to further accelerate the process.
At the
resumed sitting, Justice Dimgba admitted the accused to bail in the sum of
N500million with two sureties in the sum of N250million each. The sureties must
either be a businessman, a professional or civil servant of the federation not
below the rank of director. Each surety must own a landed property within the
FCT excluding the satellite towns and must depose to affidavit of means. The
sureties
must present
their current tax clearance certificate issued by Federal Inland Revenue
Service.
The judge
also ordered Turaki to deposit his travel documents to the registry of the
court and must not travel outside Nigeria without the permission of the court
and by application on notice and the prosecution is served. The first defendant
(Turaki) shall report to the EFCC on the first working day of every month until
the court sees the need to dispense with the order.
Additionally
the judge said, “The EFCC working with the court shall verify the satisfaction
of the bail conditions. The court shall only approve of the release of the
defendant and sign a warrant to that
effect upon
the receipt of the letter from EFCC confirming indeed the conditions have been
met and that the EFCC is satisfied with the bail conditions. The court shall
verify all conditions, which should be met within 24 hours.”
Meanwhile,
the defendant is to be remanded in Kuje prison until he meets his bail terms.
The case has
been adjourned to September 19, 2017 for trial at the Dutse Judicial Division.
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