A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting at Maitama, has revoked the bail it earlier granted to Mohammed Usman, who is the third defendant in the 14-count money laundering charge preferred against the former Accountant-General of the Federation, AGF, Ahmed Idris.
EFCC alleged that Usman, who was the Director of the Federation Account, and one Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, in connivance with the erstwhile AGF, diverted public funds to the tune of about N109.4bn, using the account of a company, Gezawa Commodity Market & Exchange Limited, which is the third defendant in the matter.
At the resumption of trial, Justice Adeyemi Ajayi revoked his bail following his failure to arrive at the court room on time.
Usman was absent when the trial Judge entered the courtroom around 9:20am, though his lawyer, Ibrahim Ishaku, SAN, notified the court that he was held up in a gridlock.
Dissatisfied with the excuse, Justice Ajayi revoked the Defendant’s bail and ordered his remand at the Kuje prison.
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Meanwhile, the court was informed that AGF, Ahmed Idris, has approached the EFCC, for a plea bargain.
EFCC’s lawyer, Jacobs, SAN, told the court that the former AGF and his co-defendants had through a third party, requested to meet him to negotiate the plea bargain arrangement.
However, the counsel that represented the ex-AGF in court yesterday, Mr. Goddy Uche, SAN, insisted that his client and his co-defendants were at the EFCC office for the meeting but declined to go further with the negotiation after they were asked to go to the office of the EFCC chairman.
Uche, SAN, had before the EFCC lawyer revealed that the defendant sought a plea bargain, alleged that the defendants were summoned by the anti-graft agency, a development he said made it impossible for him to discuss the issue of purported confessional statements the prosecution intended to tender in evidence before the court, with his client.
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Consequently, following applications by the defence lawyers, led by Uche, SAN, and Ibrahim Ishiaku, SAN, trial Justice Adeyemi Ajayi adjourned further proceedings in the matter till October 4.
A plea bargain in a criminal trial is an arrangement that allows a defendant to plead guilty to a lesser offence in exchange for a more lenient sentence or an agreement for some charges to be dropped.
It enables both the prosecutor and the defendant to avoid a lengthy trial.
