EFCC arraigns Hembe, Azubuogu for misappropriation
Hon. Herman Hembe
| credits: File copy
The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday, finally
arraigned two members of the House of Representatives, Herman Hembe and
Ifeanyi Azubuogu, before an Abuja High Court for two counts of
misappropriation and conversion of public funds to personal use.
The charge arose from
allegations made against them by the Director-General of the Securities
and Exchange Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh.
The EFCC also called five witnesses against the two lawmakers when the trial commenced after the court had granted them bail.
Hembe a former chairman,
House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and Institutions
and Azubuogu, who was his deputy, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Following an oral
application for bail by the defence counsel led by Jubril Okutepa, the
presiding judge, Justice Abubakar Umar, granted bail to the accused
persons.
The defence counsel had
argued that the court should exercise its discretion and admit the
accused persons to bail, since they had been reporting at the court
while they were on administrative bail granted them by the EFCC during
the course of investigations into the charges.
He said, “My Lord,
please order that they should continue on the EFCC bail, on liberal
terms, just like the one granted them by the EFCC.
“The prosecution has
concluded investigations, so they (accused persons) cannot interfere. If
the accused persons did not jump bail during the investigations, they
will not jump bail now.
However, the prosecution counsel led by Ogbfu Obe, asked the court to refuse the bail application.
Obe told the court to take note of the “rampant nature of corruption in the country” in refusing the bail application.
“We don’t intend to take
more than two sittings to conclude the trial. My Lord, please refuse
the bail application and order a speedy trial, he said.
But the judge went ahead to grant Hembe and Azubuogu bail on very liberal terms.
The judge noted that he
considered the accused persons’ antecedents, particularly their
willingness to attend court sessions, before granting their bail
application.
Umar said, “It is out of place for the prosecution to say that I should not consider the antecedents of the accused persons.
“I therefore find merit in the application and grant the accused persons bail.”
The lawmakers’ trial commenced immediately the court admitted them to bail.
Five witnesses were
called by the prosecution. They are Austin Adache, an EFCC investigator;
Aniete Udoh, another EFCC investigator; Olufemi Olusanya, Clerk of the
House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and Institutions;
Hassan Mamman, a protocol officer with SEC; and Ibrahim Usman, a senior
supervisor in Finance Department of SEC.
Adache, who told the
court that he interviewed Hembe, the 1st accused person, averred that
investigations revealed that the the sum of $4,095 was collected by each
of the accused persons to attend a conference in the Dominican
Republic, and that they did not attend the conference.
