Court orders EFCC to present evidence in ex-AMCON MD’s N20 billion alleged fraud trial

An Ikeja Special Offences Court has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to provide an investigative report and e-statement of Keystone Bank with the Central Bank of Nigeria. Justice Rahman Oshodi made the order on Tuesday in the ongoing N20 billion fraud trial involving a former Managing Director of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru. The judge directed the EFCC to serve the court and the defence with the documents. The court said the ruling would shape the next phase of the trial, ensuring that the defence had full access to the prosecution’s evidence ahead of further proceedings. The judge adjourned the case until October 6 for further proceedings.
Recall that at the last proceeding, the defence counsel, Olasupo Shasore (SAN), applied that the prosecution avails the defence with additional proof of evidence. Also recall that Mr Kuru was arraigned on February 11 alongside Sigma Golf Nigeria Limited. They were both arraigned on an amended six-count charge bordering on conspiracy to steal, stealing, and transfer of property derived from stealing, with the aim of concealing the origin and evading the legal consequences. While Mr Kuru pleaded not guilty, Sigma Golf, represented by its chairman, Hamidu-Modibbo, entered a guilty plea under a plea bargain deal.
Following the plea bargain, the court convicted the company and ordered the forfeiture of its rights and interests in a unit of Keystone Bank shares to the Federal Government. EFCC had stated that the defendants and others still at large committed the offences sometime in 2016. According to EFCC, the defendants conspired to steal by dishonestly converting N20 billion, the property of AMCON, through Heritage Bank Ltd., to the use of Sigma Golf for the acquisition of Keystone Bank Ltd. The commission also stated that Sigma Golf and the others transferred N10 billion derived directly from the theft, with the aim of concealing the origin of the said sum and evading the legal consequences. NAN