Vanguard News Nigeria

‘CCT boss, Umar, has no pending criminal charge’
Idowu Bankole Idowu Bankole
2 hours ago

AGF, EFCC’s reports clear him of bribery allegation

Chairman of Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Justice Danladi Umar, has no criminal charges for fraud pending against him in the course of discharging his duties, according to PRNigeria.



Danladi-Umar
Dependable sources confirmed to PRNigeria that the purported charge filed against Umar by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, through Mr Festus Keyamo, had been withdrawn on the order of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice since last year.

The charge was, subsequently, struck out by Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court Abuja after it was withdrawn by the EFCC.

The charge, filed by Keyamo, was done without the approval of Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami, SAN, who immediately ordered that the charge be withdrawn because it was lacking in merit.

PRNigeria has obtained copies of separate letters of query from the Ministry of Justice to Magu and Keyamo and another previous letter from the EFCC that exonerated the CCT boss from a bribery allegation.

In a letter written to the Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, and Keyamo, Minister of Justice had made it clear that he did not authorise the charge of any purported criminal charge to be brought against the CCT boss, hence the one filed against him by EFCC and Keyamo was a nullity.

In the letter dated February 16, 2018, with Reference No DPP/ADV:368/15 and signed by the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice Mr. Dayo Apata, the minister ordered Magu to explain what informed the filing of corruption charges against the tribunal chairman, having being cleared of corruption allegation twice by the same Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Entitled “FR VS Danladi Umar (CR/109/18) request for Briefing,” the query read in part: “The attention of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation was drawn to news report that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has filed charges of corruption against the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Hon. Justice Danladi Umar, before the FCT High Court.


“I am directed by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation to seek clarification from you as to whether the charges were filed on your instruction or directive and if in the affirmative, what is the compelling basis for doing so. This clarification becomes imperative in view of the following background facts.

“The commission’s investigation report dated 5th March 2015 addressed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation stated as follows: ‘The facts as they are now against Justice Umar raised a mere suspicion and will therefore not be sufficient to successfully prosecute for the defence.’

“The commission’s position in paragraph 2(a) above was also maintained and sustained by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation while appearing before the House of Representatives’ Investigative Committee sometimes in 2015 to the effect that report of investigations showed that the allegations against Hon. Justice Danladi Umar were based on mere suspicions.

“In view of the foregoing, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation requests for your prompt briefing as to the existence of new facts which are contrary to the position in your attached investigation report, sufficient evidence or other developments upon which the prosecution of Hon. Justice Danladi can be successfully based.

“Kindly accord this letter top priority whiles your prompt response within 48 hours from the receipt of same is required in the circumstances.”

In the same vein, in a separate letter to Mr. Festus Keyamo SAN, who was purportedly engaged as a private lawyer by Magu to prosecute the CCT boss, was also requested by the AGF to confirm who had authorised him to file the corruption charge against Umar.

ALSO READ: Onnoghen’s suspension
Like Magu the senior Lawyer was given till Tuesday February 20, 2018 to furnish the Office of the AGF in writing detail of who engaged or issued him with authority to file the corruption charges.

The letter to Keyamo with reference No DPP/ADV: 369/15 dated February 16, 2018, which was also signed by the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Sectary read in part: “The attention of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation was drawn to news report that you have filed charges of corruption against the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Hon. Justice Danladi Umar, before the FCT High Court.

“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation hereby requests that you kindly furnish this office with the details of the instruction or authorization upon which you instituted the case under reference. Kindly accord this letter top priority whiles your prompt response on or before Tuesday, February 20, 2018 is solicited in this regard.”

Although the EFCC in two separate letters to the Federal Government through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation had in 2015 and 2016 cleared Umar of any wrong doing in the alleged N10 million bribery allegation made against him by a defendant, Rasheed Taiwo Owolabi standing trial before him on false asset declaration.

Upon receipt of the petition from Owolabi, the EFCC had investigated the petition and sent its report to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) with a Reference No EFCC/EC/SGF/03/56 dated March 5, 2015, personally signed by the then Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde exonerating the CCT boss from the bribery saga.

The EFCC report received by the office of SGF on March 6, 2015 was categorical that “the facts as they are against Justice Umar raised a mere suspicion and will therefore not be sufficient to successfully prosecute for the offence.”

Other EFCC documents show that in 2016 a fresh investigation was conducted into the same N10 million bribery allegation and the same anti-graft agency in its second report absolved Umar of any wrongdoing and that the bribery allegation against him remain a mere suspicion.

The EFCC’s second report with reference EFCC/P/HRU/688/V30/99 dated April 20, 2016, and submitted to the SGF and signed by the Secretary to the Commission, Emmanuel Adegboyega Aremo, read in part: “Kindly recall our correspondence of March 5 2015 with Reference EFCC/EC/SGF/03/56 with above subject caption.

‘’We will like to reiterate the commission’s position in regard to this matter as earlier communicated to you and state that the allegation levelled against Justice Umar were merely suspicions and consequently insufficient to prosecute the offence.”

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/02/cct-boss-umar-has-no-pending-criminal-charge/amp/

Road Cleared for the arraignment of the Criminal Justice today..

The cry cry party, PDP will soon start crying.

What will PDP now hold onto now?


oja tii burst

Buhari is a bastard

We know that already

I was suprised this issue of umar being indicted for fraud is still being raised. He has been cleared by the court and Efcc. BDC onnoghen should face his trial and stop trying to divert attention

Pachuckwudi44,what is next?

EFCC files fresh charges against CCT chairman, Danladi Umar.February 2, 2018 Evelyn Okakwu

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has filed fresh charges of fraud against the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar.The charges, prepared by Festus Keyamo, an EFCC prosecutor, came two years after the anti-graft agency last absolved Mr. Umar of any wrongdoing in a case of judicial bribery and racketeering.

Court filings made available to PREMIUM TIMES Friday evening by Mr. Keyamo said Mr. Umar collected N10 million from Rasheed Taiwo, a former Customs official who was facing false assets declaration charges before the Code of Conduct Tribunal sometimes in 2012.

The prosecution also accused Mr. Umar of receiving N1.8 million of the N10 million bribe sum through one of his personal assistants, Gambo Abdullahi.


The two counts of fraud contradicted Section 12(1) (a) and (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2003, Mr. Keyamo stated in charge affidavit prepared on January 25 and stamped on February 2 at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The CCT chair could face up to seven years’ imprisonment if convicted of the charges.A spokes person for the CCT, Ibrahim Al-Hassan, told PREMIUM TIMES Friday night that he could not immediately give a reaction to the development. He said he needed time to study the court filings against his principal, promising to revert by Monday.


A PREMIUM TIMES’ examination of the charges indicates that they carry the same substance as the grounds for which anti-graft detectives had earlier cleared the tribunal chief.

The EFCC first cleared Mr. Umar of the bribery allegations in March 2015. When the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki reached its ngdoing in Mr. Taiwo’s case.

‘‘We would like to reiterate the Commission’s position in regard to this matter as earlier communicated to you and stated that the allegations levelled against Justice Umar were mere suspicious and consequently insufficient to successfully prosecute the offence,” the EFCC said in an April 20 letter to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which supervises the Code of Conduct Tribunal.


In the same letter, the EFCC concluded that there was no strong case against Mr. Umar but that there was prima facie evidence to prosecute Mr. Abdullahi, his personal assistant “who could offer no coherent excuse for receiving N1.8 million naira into his salary account from Taiwo who is an accused person standing trial at the Tribunal.”

The EFCC was compelled to clear Mr. Umar after he came under intense scrutiny since the commencement of the trial of Mr. Saraki, over alleged false assets declaration, with many accusing him of being equally tainted and calling on him to excuse himself from Mr. Saraki’s case.

In December 2016, a group, the Anti-Corruption Network, had also alleged that Mr. Umar used his office to purchase N34.9 million exotic vehicles, furniture and other household items without following due process.The first clearance notice was written on March 5, 2015 through the office of the then-SGF, Pius Anyim.

The anti-graft agency wrote another letter in April 2016 following concerted attempts by Mr. Saraki and his associates to force Mr. Umar’s hands to stand down from the top lawmakers’ false assets declaration trial.In June 2017, Mr. Umar ultimately found Mr. Saraki not guilty on all the 18 counts of false assets filings when he was governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.

In December, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed the conclusion of the tribunal on all but three counts, a decision the Senate President immediately appealed to the Supreme Court.A spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ requests for comments about why the agency brought the same charges for which it had previously cleared Mr. Umar.

Mr. Keyamo declined further comments to PREMIUM TIMES about the charges Friday night.But a source informed about the case told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that the anti-graft commission would enlist Mr. Umar’s assistant, Mr. Abdullahi, as a prosecution witness.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com

The game here is that the CCT-chair Danladi Umar's ass was about to be whooped by the hypocritical Buhari-led APC santimonious criminal saints government for failing to convict Saraki @ the CCT.

Meanwhile, when was the charges against Umar cleared to give him moral right to adjucate on another alleged corruption trial? APC corruption fight is really a wonder.

I hope BDC onnoghen resigns asap for he would most def be docked for his charges to be read to him if he continues to pretend about everything.

Biafra people over you

federal government on the beat

... And you guys still think that we have a judiciary?

Now,the executive decides who is corrupt and who is innocent.

Well,it is obvious that we're sinking below the basic expectation of democratic government,funny enough we are joking about it.

As usual naw..... it will definitely be cleared because he's a friend of Buhari and therefore a SAINT!!
This tactics APC are using won't lead us to anywhere apart from the Next level of madness

Before nko? As long as he is doing Buhari's wish

Fighting corruption indeed.

Charge has been withdrawn abi?

vicdom:

Buhari is a bastard

Please throw that bottle of sniper away

NgeneUkwenu:
Road Cleared for the arraignment of the Criminal Justice today..

see them fighting corruption. What is the reason for withdrawing the charges?

vicdom:

Buhari is a bastard

You see your life? This is where problems emanated from, staunch hatred for Buhari who doesn't know you.

umar has a case of bribery and miscarriage of justice in court. so malami sud hold his peace

Once again, I repeat, Buhari should ban the sale of Sniper henceforth...

I’m thinking this case should be more of “Does FG have the right to suspend the CJN?”

The sanctity of that arm of government should be maintained.

Then due process can then be followed for his trial

politics

Na Northerner He is covered with the blood of Muha like Ganduje and co, saint they are.

Keyamo dinning with the devil.., it’s all laughter now. When his time will come I hope he keeps mute!!

The acting CJ is a known Oluwole/sharia court judge and he is there because the president appointed him in his own capacity without the laws of the land. If Onnoghen is found wanting, there are institutions that can handle his trial which should follow due process!

Buhari skipped these processes and suspended the CJ but didn’t release dasuki after a competent court says he should be released! Yet he constantly claims he is Mr integrity, yet members of his cabinet are stealing the collective wealth of the nation on a daily basis!

Buhari is an ethnic bigot whose hypocritical stance on issues are constantly taking Nigeria to medieval times!