Money Laundering: Ex-Air Force chief Mohammed Umar to know fate March 17
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Wednesday fixed March 17 for judgement in the remaining one-count charge of money laundering levelled against former Chief of Air Staff, Mohammed Umar.
Mr Umar, a retired air marshall, is charged with one count of money laundering, because six of the seven counts originally instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were dismissed by the court in 2021.
At the resumed hearing, counsels adopted their final addresses and adumbrated on salient issues to further strengthen their arguments.
Counsel to Mr Umar, Onyechi Ikpeazu, adopted and relied on the processes filed by the defendant in urging the court to dismiss count 7, discharge and acquit the defendant.
Mr Ikpeazu said he based his submission on the grounds that the EFCC failed to provide evidence to establish that the offence alleged in the count was committed by the defendant.
He argued that there was no exhibit to show that there was a transfer of N66 million from the account of the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) to the Capital Law Firm for the renovation of the defendant’s private residence.
The lawyer said that the money that left NAF account to Capital Law Firm Account was N57 million in two tranches of N47 million and N10 million and that the only way the count could stand was to amend the charge.
For his part, the prosecuting counsel, Sylvanus Tahir maintained that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that money left the NAF account to the Capital Law Firm account.
He said as much as the prosecution conceded to the fact not N66 million but N57 million left the account, it still remained a crime as the money was used for private purposes.
He urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.
The judge thereafter fixed March 17 to deliver the judgement.
Mr Umar was first arraigned on January 25, 2017, on a seven-count charge of money laundering and procurement fraud to the tune of N9.7 billion.
But on February 23, 2021, Justice Dimgba, ruling on a no-case submission filed by the defendant, discharged and acquitted the former chief of air staff on six out of the seven counts.
(NAN)
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