Appeal Court Discharges, Acquits Ex-Commissioner Over N700m Diversion

The Court of Appeal Yola Division yesterday, affirmed the judgement of Yola High Court which discharged and acquitted former Commissioner Ministry of Finance, Hon. Jonathan Sanda Lamurde.

The appellate court dismissed the appeal filed against Lamurde, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and upheld the judgement of the lower court.

Lamurde, former Commissioner of Finance during Governor Bala James Nggilari administration was earlier arraigned before High Court presided by former Chief Judge, Nathan Musa, for alleged diversion of N700 million.

He was arraigned on 21 21-count charge of conspiracy, breach of trust and diverting funds to the tune of N700m meant for the procurement of relief materials for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

He was tried for criminal breach of trust, forgery and using as genuine false documents, all contrary to section 306, 350 and 353 respectively of the penal code law of Adamawa State.

In his judgement, the former CJ discharged and acquitted him for lack of evidence, saying that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Not satisfied with the judgement, the EFCC filed appeal and sought for an order allowing the appeal and set aside the decision/ judgement of the trial court.

It also sought an order entering a verdict of guilty and, consequently, conviction upon the proper appraisal and evaluation of the evidence against the respondent/accused.

Equally, it asked the appeal court to sentence the former Commissioner as appropriate on all the counts charge upon which he was tried.

The appeal court judge, Hon. Justice O. A. Adeghehin, delivered his judgement on the case. He dismissed the appeal and affirmed the lower court’s judgement for lack of evidence.