THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will prosecute a former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, again, according to its chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa.
Bawa said this today while speaking with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said Kalu “will be prosecuted all over again.”
Recall that Kalu had been convicted up to the Court of Appeal before the Supreme Court set him free on technical grounds.
Justice Mohammed Idris had on December 5, 2019 sentenced the former governor to 12 years in prison for allegedly stealing public funds while in office.
The EFCC had brought the criminal charge against Kalu and his director of finance Ugo Udeogu for conspiring and diverting N7.65 billion from the coffers of the state.
Dissatisfied with the judgement of the Federal High Court, the duo filed an appeal to challenge their sentencing at the apex court.
Delivering judgement in May, a seven-member panel of the apex court in a unanimous decision set aside the judgement of Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos which convicted and sentenced Kalu and Udeogu.
A third defendant, Kalu’s company, Slok Nigeria Limited, was ordered to be wound up and its assets forfeited to the Nigerian government.
The apex court’s judgement delivered by Justice Ejembi Eko, declared the conviction of the appellants as null and void on the ground that Idris was already a Justice of the Court of Appeal as at the time he delivered the judgment sentencing the appellants.
