These are troubled times for the former governor of Bayelsa
State, Timipre Sylva, as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) has filed fresh charges of corruption against him at the Federal
High Court in Abuja on Friday.
Sylva is being
charged alongside three others – Francis Okokuro, Gbenga Balogun, and
Samuel Ogbuku – for allegedly using three companies, Marlin Maritime
Limited, Eat Catering Services Limited, and Haloween-Blue Construction
and Logistics Limited to steal N19.2 billion from the Bayelsa State
government during Sylva’s administration.
The
fraud allegedly occurred between 2009 and 2012, under the pretence that
they were being used to augment salaries of the state government
workers, Premium Times report.
EFCC spokesperson, Wilson
Uwujaren, disclosed that the agency is waiting for the assignment of the
case by the court in order to fully commence prosecution.
The
commission’s 42-count charge of stealing against the ex-governor was
earlier dismissed by the court on Wednesday. The court had accused the
anti-graft body of abusing court process.
Two weeks ago, the EFCC agency withdrew part of the charges – a N2 billion fraud case – against the former governor.
The withdrawn charges – a six-count charge of fraud was a prelude to the consolidation of all the charges against him.
The
commission had two cases against the former governor pending before two
Federal High Courts in Abuja, and needed to consolidate them, Uwajeren
said.
Recently,
fourteen foreign nationals were arraigned before a federal high court
in Lagos by EFCC, for allegedly engaging in oil bunkering in Nigeria.
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