THE Economic and
Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), on Thursday, arraigned Mr
Adegboye London and Mr Sylvanus Benedict before an Abuja High
Court for alleged
criminal breach of trust and fraudulent
conversion of funds totalling N120 million.
The duo pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge tabled before
Justice Idris Kutigi.
Before taking their plea, the prosecution counsel, Gift Odibo, sought the
court’s consent to file a motion on notice to amend a two count charge filed earlier in the
court which was
granted. But counsel to the
accused persons, Mr J.A. Ako, informed the court
that he had filed a
motion for bail. But the prosecution counsel, Odibo, objected to the
application on the
ground that she was only served the motion in the court. She added
that she could not
respond orally and
would need time to prepare a written response to the bail
application.
While adjourning the matter to June 19th,
2012, for hearing of the bail application, Justice
Kutigi ordered that the suspects be remanded
in EFCC custody.
The accused persons, who are chairman and
secretary respectively
of Mbatoo Cooperative
Society, were arrested following a petition from the Ministry of
Mines and Steel
Development.
The petitioner claimed that the accused persons fraudulently
diverted a grant of N4,826,850 awarded from the N120 million
World Bank/IDA loan. The facility was part of
the $10 million micro grant programme
designed as a poverty alleviation scheme for artisanal and small scale
miners and mining
communities.
According to the
petition, the accused persons were given the
N4,826,850 for the
procurement of Atlas Copco XAS 47 air compressor, jack hammer with
accessories and
diaphragm water pump, but fraudulently
converted the grant for other purposes.