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The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on
Monday July 20, 2009 arraigned Chief Joe
Musa, the Director General of the
National Gallery of Art along with four
others on a 12 count charge of
criminal misappropriation, criminal
conversion of public funds
,falsification of account, and illegal
opening of account before Justice
Olukayode Adgbola Adeniyi of the FCT
High Court, Lugbe, Abuja.
Other
top officials of the Gallery arraigned
with the DG, are Olusegun Ogunba,
Director of Finance, Mrs. Oparagu
Elizabeth, Deputy Director, Admin, Dr.
Kweku Tandoh, Director, Research and
Planning and Chinedu Obi ,Special
Assistant to the Director General .
The accused were
at different times between august 2006
and April 2009 alleged to have diverted
the sum of N1,012,130,500 (One billion,
Twelve Million, One Hundred and Thirty
Thousand, Five Hundred Naira )
Count one of the
charge reads; “That you, Chief Joe Musa
being the Director General of the
National Gallery of Art, Olusegun Ogunba
being the Director Finance, Dr. Kweku
Tandoh being the Director,Research and
Education,Mrs. Oparagu Elizabeth being
the Deputy Director, Admin, and Mr.
Chinedu Obi being the Special Assistant
to the Director General ,Chief Joe Musa
on or about the 1st day of
August 2006 to April 2009 in Abuja
within the Jurisdiction of the High
Court of the Federal Capital Territory
did dishonestly converted to your own
use the sum of N670,000,000 (Six Hundred
and Seventy Million Naira) ,property of
the National Gallery of Art, and
thereby committed an offence punishable
under Section 309 of the penal Code Cap
532 of the Laws of the Federation of
Nigeria, (Abuja) ”
When the case came up for
arraignment, prosecution counsel,
Steve Odiase informed the court that
EFCC in the spirit of rule of law had
filed a motion seeking for an abridgment
of time from Thursday 23rd
July to Monday 20th July to
arraign the accused persons, one of who
had travelled to Algeria. “ Rather than
arresting and keeping the accused
persons in custody till Thursday, and
as the DG, Chief Joe Musa has returned
from Algeria, we feel we need not take
much time than to arraign the accused
persons”, he stated.
All the accused persons however pleaded
not guilty to the charges and their
counsel Valentine Offia sought to move
for a motion for bail.
In a swift reaction, Odiase argued
that having just being served the
motion, he needed the statutory 48 hours
to reply. His position irked the defence
counsel who wondered why he should ask
for time to reply when himself had asked
for abridgment of time without prior
notice to the accused persons.He later
asked and got the Judge’s nod to move
his motion orally while discarding the
written application.
Offia gave several reasons why his
clients should be granted bail some of
which were that the paramount reason
for bail was for the accused to be
available for trial. He also said that
the first accused person who travelled
to Algeria had on his own volition
appeared for the trial when invited. He
added that all the accused persons did
same without any persuasion. “Their
conduct is not that of those who intend
to delay trial”, he said.
The defence counsel further said
that the accused persons are all civil
servants whose bio data including next
of kin and addresses are in the public
domain.
Odiase, on his own part objected
the granting of bail by arguing that the
defence counsel had not presented
sufficient material for the court to
grant bail to the accused. He also said
that being senior civil servants, the
accused persons would likely obstruct
investigation which was on-going.
Justice Adeniyi in his ruling
concurred with the defence counsel that
the accused persons needed to be free to
stand trial. This he said was very
crucial in any trial.He equally pointed
out that they are presumed innocent
until proven guilty saying that for
prosecution to bring the accused for
trial,it is assumed that they had
concluded their investigations.
He thereafter granted all the
accused persons and ordered that they
be remanded in Kuje prison pending when
they are able to meet the following bail
conditions:
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N50million each
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1 surety in like sum
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Surety must be civil
servant of not less than grade level 16
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Must swear affidavit of
means
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Must produce 3 years tax
clearance certificate from Federal
Inland Revenue Service(FIRS)
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Must have landed property
within the court’s jurisdiction with
verifiable documents to support such.
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Deposit all travelling
documents including International
Passports.
The case has been adjourned to 19 and 20
October,2009.
Femi Babafemi
Head, Media & Publicity
20/7/2009
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