Justice I.E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to hand over within two weeks, the file on its investigation of a former minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah and eight others to the Attorney General of the Federation to continue with the prosecution.
The agency arraigned Oduah before Justice I.E. Ekwo on a 25-count charge bordering on money laundering.
The judge had requested for the report of an investigation which he had ordered the EFCC to carry out with respect to an anonymous threat message he received via SMS in relation to the case.
But the lead prosecutor of EFCC, Hassan Liman, SAN, told the court that the Commission was doing its best to apprehend the anonymous messenger.
However, the inability of the Commission to produce the report compelled him to order the Commission to, within two weeks, hand over the case file to AGF.
The anti-corruption agency in a statement issued Friday said Odua was docked alongside three others: Gloria Odita, Nwobu Nnamdi and Irene Chukwuma and five companies — Global Offshore And Marine Limited, Tiptop Global Resources Limited, Crystal Television Limited, Sobora International Limited, and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.
It said the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them.
Justice Ekwo granted bail to the defendants on the terms of the administrative bail earlier offered them by the EFCC.
The judge also adjourned till October 17, 2023 for commencement of trial.
TheHintsNews reports that the Commission had filed the charge against Oduah and others on December 17, 2020 but attempts to arraign them witnessed many twists and turns.
The anti-graft agency noted that several times the defendants were not available in court forcing adjournments; adding that when they were available, it was either counsel was pushing for adjournment on the grounds of settlement negotiations, or the Judge had issues that would not allow for arraignment.
It stressed that the ding-dung continued for almost three years.