Court exonerates ex-SGF Bachir Lawal over N544m grass-cutting fraud, EFCC vows to appeal

A high court sitting in Abuja has discharged a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and five others over a N544m contract fraud offence preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Justice Charles Agbaza in his ruling on Friday said the anti-graft agency failed to establish prima facie case against the ex-SGF and the co-defendants.

But the anti-graft agency said it was not satisfied with the court’s decision and had vowed to appeal and judgement

The court in its ruling on no case submission by Babachir Lawal and others held that no ingredient of any offence was made out by the 11 witnesses that testified for the EFCC.

According to the court, EFCC did not establish that Babachir Lawal was either a member of the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE) that awarded the contract or a member of the Ministerial Tenders Board that vetted and gave approval to the disputed contract.

Justice Agbaza held that the EFCC also failed to link Babachir Lawal with Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) which issued a certificate of no objection to the contract before it was awarded.

The judge discharged and acquitted all the defendants in the 10-count criminal charges against them for want of evidence to link them with the purported offences.

But dissatisfied with the ruling, the EFCC said in a statement that it “will obtain a copy of the judgment for urgent review and challenge its validity at the appellate court.”

Punch also quoted the spokesperson for the anti-graft agency, Wilson Uwujaren, as saying, “We are reviewing the verdict. However, we will appeal the verdict in court.”