A Grade 1
Area Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, in Abuja has referred the
case of criminal complaint, made against Senator representing Orlu District in
Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, for investigation and appropriate action.
Judge
Abdulwahab Muhammed of the court located at Arab Road, Kubwa, Abuja, took the
decision made after Uzodinma’s alleged consisted failure to attend court to
answer to the complaint.
The
complaint was made against the lawmaker and his firms by Chitex Ventures Ltd
and Chima Akuzie.
They claimed
that the Senator issued them a N200 million UBA dud check.
According to
Akuzie, Uzodinma subcontracted to his company, a shoreline protection project
in Koko, Delta State, which he (Uzodinma) allegedly got from the Niger-Delta
Development Commission (NDDC) and that the dud cheque was intended as payment
of their successful execution of the project.
The court’s
referral of the case to the anti-graft was conveyed through a letter dated
October 29 this year and was received by the EFCC, Acting Chairman, Ibrahim
Magu on November 6.
The letter’s
reference number is FCT/JD/AC/ABJ/CORR/EFCC/VOL1/2018. It was addressed to the
Acting Chairman of the EFCC.
Part of it
reads, “Re-Criminal complaint against Senator Hope Uzodinma, Smiec Engineering
and Chemical Construction Company Limited, and Niger Global Engineering and Technical
Company Limited for criminal conspiracy, joint act, criminal misappropriation,
criminal breach of trust and cheating.
“The above
subject matter, with case number: CR/358/2018 between Chimex Ventures Ltd &
1 other and Senator Hope Uzodinma & 2 others, refers.
“With
reference to the above subject matter, I am directed to inform you and refer
the above matter to your office for proper, thorough and discreet comprehensive
investigation in line with Section 89(5) of the Administration of Criminal
Justice Act, 2015.
“Please find
attached copy of the complaint for your information and further action.”
Justice
Abdulwahab’s decision to refer the case to the EFCC was taken on October 29
when the case came up, but neither Uzodinma, nor his lawyer was in court.
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