Judge blasts Maina, lawyer over alleged N738m fraud trial delays

From Sola Ojo, Abuja

Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Asokoro, Abuja, yesterday reprimanded former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, and his counsel over what he described as repeated tactics to stall his on-going trial for alleged corruption and fraud.

Maina is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside Ann Igwe Olachi on a nine-count charge bordering on the alleged receipt of stolen funds amounting to N738,612,019.99.  The defendants were arraigned in 2019.

Proceedings yesterday, scheduled for a trial-within-trial, were again halted following a request for adjournment by Maina’s new counsel, Emmanuel Wuyi, who said he had just been briefed and needed two weeks to study the case file.

He also informed the court that the first defendant had been ill and hinted at the possibility of resolving the matter with the prosecution.

But Justice Kutigi expressed frustration over what he termed a pattern of delays.

“Two weeks for what? Everybody is ready, everybody is tired. “We want every party to have fair hearing and do their cases, but when there is an adjournment, he will go and hire a new lawyer.

“When we insist on proceeding, you will now say you were denied fair hearing,” he said.

The judge noted that he had lost count of the number of lawyers who had represented Maina since the commencement of the trial, stressing that the integrity of the court process must be preserved.

Prosecution counsel, Francis Usani, also decried what he described as deliberate attempts to frustrate the trial.

“He told the court that the prosecution witnesses for the trial-within-trial were present and ready to proceed.”

Usani further revealed that the defence had filed multiple applications, including a stay of proceedings, a challenge to the court’s jurisdiction, a travel request and an appeal application.

“If he has been able to file such voluminous and bulky applications, it is assumed that the counsel knows the case so that we can start,” Usani argued, adding that he was willing to allow the defence counsel review the video recording of the defendant’s statement to expedite proceedings.”