- El Rufai in Court as ICPC Files Fresh Charges
- Case adjourned after defence received amended charges during sitting
- ICPC alleges fraud, contract violations and misuse of public funds
Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai appeared at the Kaduna State High Court on Monday for the hearing of his bail application over a nine count charge filed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
El Rufai is facing allegations bordering on fraud and abuse of office.
Proceedings were conducted behind closed doors, as journalists were denied access to the courtroom during the session.
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that Sources at the court said the original charges filed by the ICPC included both El Rufai and one Amadu Sule. However, Sule’s name was removed after the prosecution amended the charges.
The development was confirmed by El Rufai’s counsel, Ubong Akpan, who addressed journalists after the sitting. He said the amended charges left the former governor as the sole defendant in the case.
Akpan added that the hearing could not proceed because the defence team was served with the amended charges in court during the session.
“The charges are entirely new to us. They were given to us this morning while we were already in court. That is why the matter could not proceed.
“We will analyse the charges and make our position known. For now, there is nothing we can do until we have fully reviewed them,” he said.
The presiding judge, Darius Khobo, adjourned the case to April 14 for the hearing of El Rufai’s bail application.
Details of the amended charges showed that the ICPC accused the former governor of multiple infractions during his tenure in office.
One of the counts alleged that El Rufai induced the Kaduna State Government to release about ₦11 billion to an unregistered entity for a light rail project that was not executed.
The commission also alleged that he approved and received about ₦289.8 million as severance allowance, far above the legally entitled amount of about ₦20 million, thereby conferring a corrupt advantage on himself.
In another count, the ICPC accused him of mismanaging over 1.08 million dollars from a World Bank loan to Kaduna State in violation of the loan agreement.
The anti corruption agency further alleged that El Rufai conspired with an associate said to be at large to offer monetary inducement to federal investigators in a bid to compromise an ongoing probe involving a private firm.
Other allegations include the unlawful award of a ₦4.6 billion CCTV contract in Kaduna metropolis in violation of procurement laws, as well as conferring undue advantage on an associate through the contract.
The former governor is also expected to appear before the Federal High Court in Kaduna over separate charges filed by the ICPC.
