billion fraud was on Thursday stalled at the Federal High Court in
Abuja due to a pending appeal. Mr. Kalu had approached the Supreme
Court to request it to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal
which upheld the charges levelled against him by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
He had urged the trial court to quash the charges as no evidence was
established against him.
The anti-graft agency had, among other things, accused the former
governor of stealing over N5.6 billion belonging to Abia State while
in office.
At the resumed session, O. Ololagbe, Counsel to EFCC, said the accused
had resorted to various legal tactics to delay his trial.
"My Lord, this matter has dragged on since 2007 when the accused was
arraigned and doesnot seem to have made any headway,'' he said.
However, Mr. Kalu urged the court to discountenance the allegation
made by EFCC, since he is rightly before the Supreme Court.
"My Lord, the appeal and the brief of argument have been entered, so
what is left now is a date to commence hearing. The reason we are here
today is simply to brief the trial court on the progress of the appeal
and not to question a possible legal tactics to delay the trial.
"These are serious criminal allegations that are not founded on truth
but built on political leanings. So we must deal with it judicially
and judiciously, irrespective of the time consumed," his counsel said.
Justice Adamu Bello adjourned the matter to July 8 for the report of
progress from the Supreme Court.
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