The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Saturday, December 14, 2019, began seizing properties belonging to a former Abia State governor, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu in compliance with a court order that recently sentenced him to 12 years in prison after finding him guilty of fraud.
According to media reports, the anti-graft agency said it has begun marking properties belonging to him to seek reparation for the N7.65b stolen from the Abia state treasury.
The marking is to ensure that the properties are not dissipated, following the December 5, 2019 order of Justice Muhammed Idris sitting at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos that Kalu’s company, Slok Nigeria Limited, be wound up and all assets forfeited to the Federal Government.
Kalu, who is the Senator representing Abia North in the National Assembly, had been arraigned alongside his company, Slok Nigeria Limited and Udeh Udeogu, his Director of Finance and Accounts at the Abia State Government House, over an amended 39-count charge bordering on conspiring and diverting the sum of N7.65bn from the coffers of the state.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against them by the EFCC, thereby leading to their full trial.
In the course of the trial, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, called 19 witnesses and tendered several documents that were admitted in evidence by the court. The defendants, however, testified on behalf of themselves during the trial. The parties, during the proceedings on Tuesday, October 22, 2019, adopted their final written addresses.
Photo Credit: Getty
Photo Credit: Getty
