June 05, (THEWILL) – A former Head of Service of the Federation (HoS), Stephen Oronsaye, has been discharged and acquitted of the N2 billion fraud charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, in his judgment on Monday, held that the prosecution failed to provide enough evidence to warrant a conviction.
The EFCC had, in 2015, arraigned Oronsaye alongside the Managing Director of Fedrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, Osarenkhoe Afe, on charges bordering on fraud.
Equally charged alongside Oronsaye by the EFCC were three companies – Cluster Logistic Limited; Kangolo Dynamic Cleaning Limited, and Drew Investment & Construction Company Limited.
The anti-graft agency alleged that the defendants had, between 2010 and 2011, used the firms to divert public funds through procurement fraud.
The EFCC equally accused Orosanye and the others of using inflated biometrics enrolment contracts, collective allowances and other schemes to siphon money from accounts containing pensioners’ funds.
The Commission also tendered a report of the Auditor-General of the Federation on the Federal Government’s pension accounts, which indicted Oronsaye and others of wrongdoing.
However, in a ruling on Monday, Justice Ekwo held that the prosecution failed to provide enough evidence to warrant a conviction.
