Onnoghen: FG withdraws corruption case against CCT chairman

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.

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charge filed against Umar by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, through Mr Festus Keyamo, had been withdrawn on the order of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice since last year.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was, subsequently, struck out by Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court Abuja after it was withdrawn by the EFCC.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without the approval of Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami, SAN, who immediately ordered that the charge be withdrawn because it was lacking in merit.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.

News Rescue