EFCC arraigns emirate secretary over alleged N12m fraud

The accountant of Ringim Emirate Council, Jigawa State, Mansur Mahmoud, has been arraigned before Justice Ado Kudu of Jigawa State High Court, sitting in Hadejia, on one count bordering on cheating.

He allegedly obtained N12.430 million from a petitioner ostensibly as loan for the payment of the emirate staff salary and running costs but refused to refund the money after the council had received its allocation.

The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, that the accused person pleaded not guilty to the charge.

In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, Zarami Muhammad asked the court for a date for commencement of trial and also prayed the court to remand the defendant in prison custody.

Justice Kudu, however, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10m with two sureties in like sum. Both the defendant and his sureties are to deposit their international passports with the court.

The case was adjourned to October 23, 2019 for trial.

In a related development, the Port Harcourt Zonal office of the commission has arraigned one Diaso Isreal before Justice I.M Sani of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on five counts bordering on impersonation, possession of scam documents and obtaining money by false pretence.

He allegedly defrauded an Indian, Promilla Lama of $5,000 in November 2018, in a phoney online marriage proposal.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges and the prosecuting counsel, N. A. Dodo, urged the court to fix a date for trial.

Justice Sani ordered that the defendant be remanded in EFCC custody while the matter was adjourned to October 17, 2019 for the hearing of bail application.