Alleged N1.9bn fraud: Court slams EFCC over fresh charge against ‎Oronsaye

Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Tuesday, slammed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for engaging in what he termed “shoddy investigations and untidy trial of cases”.

*Mr. Stephen Oronsaye

Justice Kolawole said he was disappointed that the anti-graft agency chose to amend the charge it preferred against the former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye‎, barely 24 hours to the commencement of full-blown trial on the matter.
“This is a very untidy manner of handling criminal prosecution and goes to further buttress the observation that the Chief Justice of Nigeria made recently to the effect that criminal trials in this court are delayed by the fact that the prosecuting agencies always resort to arresting accused persons first before investigation, rather than properly investigating cases before rushing to court.
“The question any reasonable person will ask is whether while the allegation in the former charge was being investigated, issues that formed the crux of this new charge were not there?
“Indeed I am deeply concerned that the state only realised 24 hours to hearing, that it needed to bring an amended charge”, Justice Kolawole fumed.
The court had originally fixed yesterday for the EFCC to open its case against Orosanye who was hitherto answering to a 24-count criminal charge ‎alongside his alleged accomplice, Mr. Osarenkhoe Afe.
Orosanye was in that charge, alleged to have used some companies and diverted over N1.9billion from the national treasury under the guise that the funds were used for biometric data capture project.
The firm that was allegedly used to perpetuate the fraud between March 2010 and December 2011-Frederick Hamilton and Global Services Limited-was also charged as the 3rd accused person in the matter.
EFCC had on July 13 when Orosanye was arraigned, informed the court that it was tracking a former Deputy Director of Finance in the office of the Head of Service, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, (now at large), who it said was also involved in fraud.