Justice Mohammed Tukur of a Kaduna State High Court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Abubakar Uthman, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on a one-count charge bordering on contract scam to the tune of N2,650,000.
The trial judge also ordered the arrest of his surety.
It will be recalled that Uthman was first arraigned on April 3, 2019 and he pleaded “not guilty” to the charge.
He was thereafter, granted bail in the sum of N2 million.
However, the defendant has consistently failed to appear before the court, prompting the trial judge to issue the warrant for Uthman’s arrest and that of his surety.
Counsel for the EFCC, Maryam Lawal, had argued that the defence had made it a habit not to at least inform the prosecution about the whereabouts of the defendant.
The count against him reads: “That you, Abubakar Uthman, sometime in January 2016, in Kaduna within the Kaduna Judicial Division of the high court with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N2,650,000.00 (Two Million Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) only from Umarcom Global Resources Nigeria Limited, represented by Umar Sani under the false pretence of securing contracts for them from the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, a pretence you knew was false and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a)of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offence Act 2006 and Punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
The case has been adjourned until April 23, 2020.
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