BEVERLY HILLS, March 07, (THEWILL) – An Abuja division of the Federal High Court on Monday remanded the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (rtd), in Kuje prison pending the determination of his application for bail on Thursday.
The presiding judge, Justice Okon Abang dismissed an earlier application for bail filed by Badeh’s attorney, Samuel Zibiri, on the grounds that it was incompetent. Zibiri had on March 2, before the arraignment of his client, filed the application.
While ruling that it was out of place to file an application for bail before the arraignment of an accused person, the judge, thereafter, dismissed the application and asked the defence counsel to file a fresh one.
The court also turned down a request made by Zibiri for Badeh to be remanded in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and not in prison.
Justice Abang proceeded to fix March 10 for hearing of the bail application, and March 14 for trial.
The EFCC on Monday arraigned Badeh before the court. But he pleaded not guilty to the 10-count charge of criminal breach of trust and corruption to the tune of N3.9bn.
The EFCC docked the former Chief of Defence Staff alongside Iyalikam Nigerian Limited before Justice Okon E. Abang on a 10 count charge bordering on money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption to the tune of N3.97 billion.
The EFCC claims that Badeh, while being the CDS, among other things allegedly abused his office between January and December, 2013, adding that he used dollar equivalent of the sum of N1.4billion (One Billion, One Hundred Million Naira) from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force to purchase a mansion situated at No. 6, Ogun River Street, Off Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja.
The offence is in contravention of Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
One of the counts reads: “That you Air Chief Marshal Alex S Badeh (whilst being the Chief of Air Staff, Nigerian Air Force) and IYALIKAM NIGERIA LIMITED between 28th March and 5th December, 2013 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did use an aggregate sum of N878, 362,732.94 (Eight Hundred and Seventy-Eight Million, Three Hundred and Sixty Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty-Two Naira, Ninety-Four kobo) removed from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force and paid into the account of Rytebuilders Technologies Limited with Zenith Bank Plc for the construction of a shopping mall situate at Plot 1386, Oda Crescent Cadastral Zone A07, Wuse II, Abuja for yourself, when you reasonably ought to have known that the said funds formed part of the proceed of unlawful activity (to wit: criminal breach of trust and corruption) of Air Chief Marshal Alex S Badeh and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.”
