Justice Silvanus Oriji of the FCT High Court, Apo on Tuesday discharged the N16.4 million fraud allegations against former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Sunday Ehindero, and Commissioner of Police budget, John Obaniyi.
Justice Oriji held that the prosecution failed to make a prima facie case and has failed to prove that the defendants converted the said interest generated to their personal use.
“I, therefore, uphold the no-case submission,” he said.
He further stated that the investigation officer did not discredit the claim of the defendants to prove that the money was not used for operational purposes.
Counsel to Ehindero, Kelvin Omoraw, and Samuel Odariko representing Obaniyi had filed a no-case submission after the prosecution closed its case on May 8, after calling four witnesses.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the former police boss and a Commissioner of Police in charge of finance and budget at the Force headquarters, John Obaniyi, were arraigned on May 10, 2018, by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)
They were accused by the ICPC of misusing the sum of N557 million donated by the Bayelsa Government to the Nigerian Police Force for the purchase of arms and ammunition.
They were alleged to have diverted the said sums into separate accounts belonging to them.
ICPC alleged that the defendants conspired and used their positions to place N500 million being part of N557 million donation into two fixed deposit accounts.
The N500million placed in fixed deposits, according to the anti-corruption commission, yielded N16.4 million interest, which the defendants were accused of using for personal interests.
