Former Secretary of the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal was cleared of all charges of money laundering by a federal capital territory (FCT) high court.
Along with his younger brother Hamidu David Lawal, Sulaiman Abubakar, Apeh John Monday, Rholavision Engineering Ltd., and Josmon Technologies Ltd., Lawal was facing criminal charges.
They were re-arrested on a 10-count accusation involving government corruption, a criminal conspiracy, and the diversion of monies totaling N544 million.
According to a ruling given on Friday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) utterly failed to make a case against the defendants even on the surface.
The presiding judge, Charles Agbaza, upheld the defendants’ no-case motion and added that none of the 11 witnesses the prosecution called could establish any element of an offense.
The judge ruled that the EFCC had failed to prove that Lawal was a part of either the presidential initiative for the north-east (PINE), which selected the contractor, or the ministerial tenders board, which examined and approved the contract.
Further, the judge ruled that the EFCC had not shown a connection between Lawal and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), which had provided a certificate of no objection to the contract prior to its award.
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