At least five officials of the Rural Electrification Agency have been charged separately by the ICPC for various amounts of funds, amounting to over N1.2 billion, they allegedly stole from the agency in March 2023.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on Thursday arraigned an official of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) for stealing N298 million through the agency's payment platform last year.
The defendant, Usman Ahmed Kwakwa, was arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja on four charges.
Mr Kwakwa is only one of the officers allegedly involved in over N1.2 billion fraud at REA. PREMIUM TIMES reported the case last year.
At least five officials of the agency, including Mr Kwakwa, have been charged separately by the ICPC for various amounts of funds they allegedly stole from the agency in March 2023.
As of Thursday, only Mr Kwakwa has been arraigned.
He pleaded not guilty to four charges when read to him before the trial judge, Emeka Nwite, of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday.
Subsequently, Mr Nwite granted him bail in the sum of N50 million. The prosecuting lawyer, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, opted not to oppose the defence lawyer's bail request.
Earlier on Thursday, the judge ordered the arrest of three officials of the agency who were similarly scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.
Mr Nwite, ordered the arrest of Emmanuel Pada Titus, Umar Musa Karaye and Henrientta Onomen Okojie, who were absent from their scheduled arraignment on Thursday.
The prosecuting lawyer, Mr Akponimisingha, told the judge that Mr Titus and Karaye and Ms Okojie were served with copies of the charges and duly informed of the day's proceedings, but chose to stay away "by their own volition."
Mr Akponimisingha, an Assistant Chief Legal Officer at the ICPC, explained that the defendants were on administrative bail, but urged the judge to issue a bench warrant for their arrest owing to their absence from proceedings.
The prosecuting lawyer referenced sections 114, 124 and 184 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in praying the court to order for the trio's arrest.
In a short ruling, the judge, Mr Nwite, ordered the defendants' arrest.
"The defendant decided not to come to court. I am convinced that the defendant deliberately absented himself from court," Mr Nwite said in separate rulings concerning each of the absentee defendants.
The judge asked the prosecuting agency, ICPC, to arrest and produce the three defendants before the court.
He adjourned Messrs Titus' and Karaye's cases until 13 June for arraignment.
For Ms Okojie's matter, the judge adjourned it until 14 June for arraignment.
Charges
ICPC, in the separate charges it filed against the defendants accused them of moving funds belonging to the agency through the GIFMIS payment platform to their personal accounts in tranches.
PREMIUM TIMES reported last year that the public funds were meant for the provision of electricity to rural communities across the country.
Mr Karaye, who was arraigned on Thursday, faces four fraud charges involving the sum of N298 million.
ICPC alleged that, in March 2023, he moved the funds out of REA's account in tranches to his First Bank account 2031253389 "under the false pretence of project supervision exercise".
ICPC said the fund transfers constituted an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.
In the other three counts, ICPC charged the defendant for the N98 million transactions under the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and the Public Enterprise Regulatory Commission Act
For instance, in Count 2, the ICPC alleged that he moved the money when he "reasonably ought to have known that such a fund forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, to wit: corruption". ICPC alleged that the transactions, therefore, constituted an offence contrary to section 18(2)(d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
In Count 3, ICPC alleged that Mr Kwawa, received the N165 million in different tranches "for a purported project supervision exercise, contrary to and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
Lastly, in Count 4, ICPC alleged that the defendant, in receiving the money, contributed "to the economic adversity of the Rural Electrification Agency", thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under section 68(1) of the Public Enterprise Regulatory Commission Act.
Other REA officers of the REA already charged in separate cases by the ICPC face similar allegations.
For instance, in the four charges against Mr Titus, the prosecution accused him of defrauding the REA of N261 million. The ICPC said the defendant received the funds in different tranches through his First Bank account in March 2023 under the "false pretence of project supervision" in violation of the Advance Fraud and Other Related Offences Act of 2006.
According to the proof of evidence attached to the charges, the monies were "illegally paid out to the defendants from the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) without requisite approvals."
In Ms Okojie's case, the commission accused her of cornering N342 million through her Access Bank account under the guise of project supervision in breach of Advance Fraud and Other Related Offences Act of 2006.
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Background
PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported the fraud that had dogged the REA, an agency founded in 2006 to provide rural communities in Nigeria with electricity.
Many rural inhabitants in Nigeria either grapple with epileptic power supply or have none.
But following complaints of monumental fraud at the REA, the ICPC beamed its searchlight on top officials in the agency's accounts department.
During the investigation, President Bola Tinubu last March suspended REA's management led by Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad.
Mr Tinubu placed the Mr Ahmad-led management team on an indefinite suspension after months of this newspaper's elaborate reporting on the issue.
However, Mr Ahmad's name did not feature in any of the charges filed by the ICPC, although he is yet to be recalled from the suspension.
At the heart of the scandal is REA's Director of Finance and Accounts, Abubakar Sambo.
Mr Sambo reportedly colluded with other senior officials at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) to grant the suspicious payments from the GIFMIS portal supervised by the AGF's office.
Although charges have been filed against Mr Sambo, he has yet to be arraigned.
But Mr Sambo's Personal Assistant, Mr Kwakwa, was on Thursday arraigned by the ICPC.
