The defendants were accused by the EFCC of using a few businesses between 2010 and 2011 to divert public funds through procurement fraud.
The Federal High Court in Abuja cleared Steve Oronsaye, a former head of the federal civil service, on Monday of the N2 billion money laundering charge that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had brought against him and others. The EFCC has announced that it will appeal the Federal High Court’s decision.
Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled in dismissing the accusation that the Commission had failed to prove its case against the defendants.
Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC’s spokesperson, claimed in a statement that the trial judge erred by failing to consider the testimony of the 21 witnesses that the prosecution called during the course of the trial as well as the confessional statement of one of the defendants, Osarenkhoe Afe.
He stated that the Commission has chosen to appeal the ruling at the Court of Appeal.
2015 saw the beginning of Oronsaye’s corruption trial as he was charged along with Osarenkhoe Afe, the managing director of Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, and three businesses: Cluster Logistic Limited, Kangolo Dynamic Cleaning Limited, and Drew Investment & Construction Company Limited.
The defendants were accused by the EFCC of using a few businesses between 2010 and 2011 to divert public funds through procurement fraud.
The EFCC charged Orosanye and the others with using inflated biometric enrolment contracts, collective allowances, and other schemes to steal money from accounts holding pensioner funds.
However, Justice Ekwo ruled that the anti-graft agency had not given the court any evidence to support the court’s allegations of corruption against Oronsaye.
The charges against Oronsaye were subsequently dropped, and he was released and found not guilty by the judge.
