The disappearance of one of the statements Ahmed Idris made to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday caused the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to postpone the trial of the former Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) on alleged N109 billion corruption charges (EFCC).
The EFCC was unable to find the statement dated July 5, 2022, in any of its files, the high court’s file, or the file of the defence team.
After the ex-Accountant General said that some of the statements he gave to the EFCC about the suit were not made voluntarily, the anti-corruption agency started a trial within a trial yesterday. This was done through its lawyer, Mr. Oluwaleke Atolagbe.
Idris, who was re-arrested in October last year, had always claimed that the crucial statements the EFCC wanted to use against him in the alleged corruption accusations were made under duress.
Judge Halilu Yusuf had ordered a trial-within-a-trial after the allegation to confirm the assertion.
Although the EFCC had requested that Mr. Hayatudeen Suleiman provide 13 different statements, problems emerged when it became apparent that a statement dated July 5, 2022, which was reportedly crucial to the trial, was not included in the bundles of papers the EFCC had posted at the court.
When the EFCC tried to question the witness but couldn’t find his statement in his own case file, the problem got worse.
Idris’ attorney, Chief Chris Uche, responded by informing the court that the statement was not among those given to him by the EFCC and that it was possible that the defendant’s missing testimony was one of the papers that the anti-graft organisation had suppressed.
The lawyer for the EFCC had to ask for a delay because the documents mentioned above could not be found in the court’s file. He did this because the statement was important to his client’s case.
Judge Yusuf set May 11 for the resumption of the trial within a trial after consulting with the attorneys. He added that the EFCC had requested the adjournment.
On October 27, 2022, the commission arrested Idris again on 13 counts related to an alleged theft of N109 billion.
He was charged along with Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Usman, and Gezawa Commodities Market and Exchange Limited.
On July 22, 2022, they were initially charged in front of Adeyemi Ajayi, a judge on leave.
