Former Minister for Interior, Abbah Moro has just arrived the Federal High Court, Abuja for consideration of his application for bail.
The Economic and Financial Crimes commission, EFCC, had on Monday arraigned Moro alongside a former Director in the Ministry, F.O. Alayebami and former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Anastasia Daniel Nwobia on an 11 count charge bordering on complicity in a N676m immigration recruitment scam.
Justice Anwuli Chikere had during the last sitting of the court granted administrative bail to the 2nd defendant, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, who is currently nursing a baby.
Mrs. Daniel-Nwobia persuaded the court, through her lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, to allow her to go home to take care of her child.
The EFCC had told the court that one of the accused persons, Mahmood Ahmadu,who was a Director at Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd, a firm that was allegedly used to perpetuate the botched March 15, 2014 Immigration recruitment exercise that killed no fewer than 20 job seekers across the country, is currently at large. The charge against the accused persons borders on obtaining by false pretence, procurement fraud and money laundering.
The anti-graft agency categorically alleged that the defendants defrauded 676,675 Nigerian applicants of N676,675,000 (Six Hundred and Seventy Six Million, Six Hundred and Seventy Five Thousand Naira) as each of the 676,675 applicants were charged N1,000 each for participating in the ill-fated Immigration recruitment exercise.
The defendants were also alleged to have flouted the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the award of the contract for the organisation of the recruitment test to Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.
The EFCC stated that its investigations revealed that the firm which it said was not validly registered to operate in Nigeria did not bid for the contract, adding that the contract was awarded through selective tendering procedure by invitation of 4 (Four) firms without seeking the approval of the Bureau for Public Procurement, contrary to sections 40, 42 and 43 of the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 and punishable under section 58 of the same act.
Justice Chikere had on Monday remanded Moro in Kuje prison, while adjourning the matter till today, Wednesday, for bail consideration.
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