Alleged N2.5bn Fraud: Court acquits ex-NBC boss, Modibbo

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Alleged N2.5bn Fraud: Court acquits ex-NBC boss, Modibbo

ABUJA–The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, discharged and acquitted the former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Ishaq Kawu Modibbo, who was accused of complicity in a N2.5billion fraud.

The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Folashade Ogunbanjo-Giwa, held that the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, failed to establish the allegation.

According to the court, aside from conflicting evidence of witnesses that testified in the matter, the ICPC, was unable to link the defendant to any crime.

Consequently, he was discharged on the five-count amended charge the anti-corruption agency preferred against him and two others- Mr. Dipo Onifade and Pinnacle Communications Ltd.

It will be recalled that one of the defendants in the matter, Sir Lucky Omoluwa, died while the trial was ongoing, a development that led the ICPC to amend the initial 12-count charge it brought before the court.

The ICPC had alleged that the defendants were involved in irregularities that trailed the award of a N2.5billion Digital Switch Over (DSO) contract.

It alleged that the former NBC boss hoodwinked the Minister of Information and Culture to approve the payment of N2.5bn to Pinnacle Communications Limited, a private company owned by his friend, Omoluwa, who was also listed as a defendant.

According to the ICPC, Omoluwa, whose firm was not qualified for such grant, subsequently transferred the sum of N537.25million out of the N2.5bn to a Bureau De Change operator for the dollar equivalent.

The BDC operator was said to have delivered the dollars in cash to Omoluwa at his residence in Kaduna.

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It was alleged that the defendants committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) (c ) and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

However, the defendants, who were arraigned for the first time in 2019, pleaded not guilty to the charge that was eventually dismissed by the court on Thursday.