EFCC RE-ARRAIGNS TWO CHINESE ACCUSED OF OFFERING N100M BRIBE TO ITS OFFICIAL
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Sokoto Zonal Office, on Tuesday, October 27, re-arraigned two Chinese nationals accused of offering a N100 million as a bribe to its zonal head, Abdullahi Lawal.
In a statement signed by the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said the duo were arraigned before Saleh Idrissa of the Federal High Court, Sokoto, on a three-count charge of conspiracy and money laundering to the tune of N50million.
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Recall that the defendants, Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi, who are staff of China Zhounghao Nigeria Limited, a construction company, were arrested in May for allegedly offering a bribe to an EFCC official in a bid to compromise ongoing investigations of their company.
The two accused Chinese men were granted bail in the sum of N5 million each with two surety in like sum. One of which must be resident in Sokoto and have a landed property that has a Certificate of Occupancy.
The presiding judge, Justice Muhammad Saidu Sifawu, said the respondents did not successfully dislodge the presumption of innocence of the accused.
The construction company handled contracts awarded by the Zamfara State Government for the construction of township roads in Gummi, Bukkuyun, Anka and Nasarawa towns; and 168 solar-powered boreholes in 14 local government areas of the State between 2012 to 2019.
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The EFCC said their offence contravenes Section 1(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended by Act No.1 of 2012) and punishable under Section 16 (2) of the same Law.’’
However, the defendants pleaded not guilty of all the charges leveled against them.
The prosecution counsel, S.H. Sa’ad, asked the court for a commencement date of trial and prayed the court to remand them in prison custody, while defence counsel, A. T. Hassan, informed the court of a bail application he filed on behalf of the defendants and urged the court to grant them bail.
The judge ordered that they be remanded in EFCC custody and adjourned the matter till October 29, 2020, for the hearing of the bail application.
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