By Mohammed Aminu in Gusau
A Federal High Court in Gasau, Zamfara State has cleared the Chairman of the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Murtala Adamu Jangebe, of corruption and money laundering.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had filed a suit against Jangebe in 2015, accusing him of financial misappropriation of funds to the tune of N1 billion.
In her judgment, Justice Zainab Abubakar quashed the 10-count charge preferred against him, stressing that some of the charges were null and void, while others lacked evidence beyond reasonable doubt for criminal prosecution.
Justice Abubakar held that counts one to five could not be sustained since the charges under section 15 (2) (a) and (d) of the money laundering act had been expunged in the Money Laundering Amendment Act 2012.
She averred that conviction could only be made where an offence had been defined and penalty prescribed in a written law, adding that counts six and seven were struck out on the basis of contradiction in the oral testimony of the witness before the court and his written statements before the EFCC which rendered him unreliable in the eyes of the law.
Details later…
