Court Grants EFCC Leave To Prosecute Hembe

An Abuja High Court yesterday granted the
request of the EFCC to arraign Herman Hembe, the former Chairman of the House
of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and Other Financial
Institutions.

Justice Abubakar Umar also granted
permission to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arraign
the former Vice Chairman of the committee, Chris Azubogu, over corruption
charges.

The EFCC had, through its Counsel, Mr
Onjekwu Obe, filed an application for leave to prefer a two-count criminal
charge against the duo, under section 185 (d) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Obe said the application for seeking leave
of the court to prefer a criminal charge was made under Section 185(B) of the
Criminal Procedure Code.

He said, “I hereby apply for leave to
prefer a criminal charge against the above named accused persons.

“Attached herewith are the following
documents: a copy of the charge in respect of which leave is sought, and a
verifying affidavit.

“Others are names and addresses of the
witnesses, statements of the witnesses and that of the two accused persons and
other documentary evidences.”

In his ruling, Umar granted the
application, and said that from the proof of evidence presented by the EFCC,
Hembe and Azubogu are to be arraigned on Thursday, May 17.

“The application to prefer a criminal
charge against Hon. Herman Hembe and Hon. Chris Azubogu has merit,” he added.

Obe told newsmen later that with the
consent given by the judge, Hembe and Azubogu would now be arraigned on May 17
on a two-count charge, bordering on misappropriation of public funds.

He said that the EFCC investigations
revealed that Hembe and Azubogu were the two key actors in the N44 million
fraud allegation rocking the House of Representatives Committee on Capital
Market and Other Institutions.

The EFCC counsel added that investigations
also revealed that the two had confessed that they did not attend the workshop
for which they collected money from the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC).

He also said that investigations further
revealed that Hembe and Azubogu collected Estacode from SEC to attend a
capacity building workshop in the Dominican Republic but never did.

Their confession, the counsel said, came on
the day the EFCC launched a probe into the N30 million hotel bill allegedly
incurred by SEC’s Director-General, Ms Arunma Oteh.

“EFCC has enough evidence to present to
court and is ready to begin its case,’’ the counsel said.