TheCable

A federal high court in Lagos has granted a request by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to separately prosecute Chimaroke Nnamani , former governor of Enugu state, for alleged N5 billion fraud.

Nnamani’s trial, which began in 2007, had suffered monumental delays, partly owing to his frequent applications to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Nnamani served as Enugu state governor from 1999 to 2007 under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). From 2007 to 2011, he represented Enugu East in the senate, also under the platform of PDP. He re-contested in 2011 but he lost.

Shortly after his tenure as chief executive officer of Enugu state, he was charged to court by EFCC over alleged misappropriation of state funds and money laundering.

Dissatisfied with the slow pace of the trial, the EFCC, through its lawyer, Kelvin Uzozie, had urged the court to separate Nnamani from other accused persons, so that his frequent medical trips abroad would not affect the trial of others.

Nnamani, through his lawyer, Ricky Tarfa (SAN), had opposed the request, saying it would prejudice the rights of the accused persons if granted.

In his ruling, Justice Mohammed Yunusa granted EFCC its request and held that the application was proper and was not against the practice direction of the federal high court.

According to the judge, any application geared towards bringing about quick determination of cases must be encouraged by the court.

Nnamani was first arraigned before Justice Tijani Abubakar in 2007 and after more than five years, he was re-arraigned before Justice Mohammed Yunusa on an amended 105-count charge of money laundering and economic crimes.

The ex-governor was docked alongside Sunday Anyaogu, his then aide, and six firms linked to them: Rainbownet Nigeria Limited, Hillgate Nigeria Limited, Cosmos FM, Capital City Automobile Nigeria Limited, Renaissance University Teaching Hospital and Mea Mater Elizabeth High School.

The financial impropriety was allegedly committed while Nnamani was governor between 1999 and 2007.

The case was re-assigned to Justice Charles Archibong following the transfer of Justice Abubakar, now of the appeal court, out of the Lagos division of the federal high court.

Again, the case was re-assigned to the current judge (Yunusa) after Justice Archibong (now retired) was also transferred out of the Lagos division of the court.

According to the charge, Nnamani conspired with other accused persons to launder various statutory allocations of some local government areas of Enugu state.

The local governments are Aninri, Enugu South, Agwu, Igbo Etiti and Isi Uzor.

For instance, Count 9 alleged that Nnamani stole N1.4 billion from the excess crude oil funds allocated to local governments in the state.

Besides, through the help of one Chinero Nwigwe, the former governor allegedly fraudulently transferred millions of dollars of Enugu state funds to his personal accounts in the United States of America.

The matter has been adjourned to May 11, 2015 for mention.