After 12 years of trial, switching political parties, becoming a principal officer of the Senate, Former Governor of Abia and sitting Senator, Orji Uzor Kalu, has been sentenced to 12 years in jail over a N7.65 billion fraud.
\nKalu is the third former governor to be sent to jail after Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, and Joshua Dariye of Plateau State.
\nJustice Muhammed Idris sitting at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos delivered judgment in Maku’s trial.
\nKalu, who is the Senator representing Abia North in the National Assembly, was 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 \u00a0charge for conspiring and diverting the sum of \u00a0N7.65bn from the coffers of the state.
\nThe defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them by the EFCC, thereby leading to their full trial.
\nIn 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.
\nThe defendants, however, testified on behalf of themselves during the trial.
\nThe parties, during the proceedings on Tuesday, October 22, 2019, adopted their final written addresses.
\nIn his final submission, the prosecution counsel, Jacobs, urged the Judge to jail the defendants, saying the prosecution had proved the allegations against them.
\nJacobs further stated that the second defendant had already admitted to the offence both in his extra-judicial statement and under cross-examination.
\n\u201cThe admission is binding on all the defendants,\u201d Jacobs said.
\nHowever, the defence counsel had urged the court to \u201cdismiss the charges, acquit and discharge\u201d their clients.
\nJustice Idris, after listening to all parties, had fixed December 2, 2019 for judgment.
\nHowever, the judgment could not be delivered on Tuesday, December 2, 2019.
\nDelivering his judgment today, Justice Idris found the defendants guilty on all counts.
\nJustice Idris held that the prosecution had established its case against the defendants.
\nThe Judge further held that \u201cthe case was conclusively investigated, as the prosecution conducted thorough investigations.
\n\u201cNo gaps were left unfilled; this is the acceptable practice.
\n\u201cThe first defendant failed in his obligations under the law.
\n\u201cHe acted contrary to his codes of conduct and will be dealt with accordingly.
\n\u201cNo evil deed will go unpunished.
\n\u201cThe offences are anti-human; it is condemned worldwide because it is a crime against humanity.\u201d
\nIn his alloqutus, counsel to the first convict, said his client \u201cis a first-time offender and has no criminal record.
\n\u201cHe has thousands of employees depending on him for survival.
\n\u201cHe also has health issues.
\n\u201cWe, therefore, want the court to take this into consideration in giving out the sentence.\u201d
\nCounsel to the second convict also asked the court to temper justice with mercy, saying his client \u201chas no criminal record.
\n\u201cHe was a public servant who diligently served Abia State.
\n\u201cHe acted in the moment of indiscretion and this should not be the only basis to adjudge his career.\u201d
\nIn his response, the prosecution counsel, Jacobs, said: \u201cThough there is no record to show any criminal records involving the defendants, the court has sent a message to the world not to allow their personal interest to conflict with the interests of Nigerians, because no matter how long it takes, they will not escape the wrath of the law.
\n\u201cThis case started in 2007 and the convicts filed series of applications to stall this case.
\n\u201cFor 12 years, the people of Abia have waited for this day and it is here, when they can reclaim all that was taken from them.\u201d
\nHe also urged the court to wind up the company as provided by the Law and all its assets forfeited to the Federal Government.
\nJustice Idris, therefore, convicted and sentenced the first defendant, Kalu to five years imprisonment on counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11; three years on counts 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33; 12 years on counts 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38 and five years on count 39.
\nThe second defendant was convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment on counts 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32 and 10 years on counts 34, 37, 38 and 39.
\nThe sentences will run concurrently.
\nJustice Idris further held that Kalu\u2019s company, Slok Nigeria Limited, the third defendant, be wounded up and all assets forfeited to the Federal Government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After 12 years of trial, switching political parties, becoming a principal officer of the Senate, Former Governor of Abia and sitting Senator, Orji Uzor Kalu, has been sentenced to 12 years in jail over a N7.65 billion fraud. Kalu is the third former governor to be sent to jail after Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[364,354,365],"class_list":["post-22837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-12-years","tag-fraud","tag-orji"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22837\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}