Olisa Metuh to Appear in Court for Retrial Over N400m Fraud
- The former national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh will be docked yet again two years after he was released
- Metuh who was released in 2020 after a long legal battle with the EFCC since 2016 is expected to take a fresh plea to an appellate court
- The federal high court had initially sentenced Metuh to seven years after he was proven guilty of all the charges levelled against him
FCT, Abuja - The former national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh will be retried before the federal high court in Abuja on Wednesday, June 22, TheCable reported.
Metuh who has been battling a court case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was first arraigned in 2016 for allegedly receiving N400 million from the office of the national security adviser.
Source: Twitter
A high court ruling by Justice Okon Abang in February 2020 held that Metuh was guilty of all charges levelled against him as he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Legit.ng gathered Metuh and his legal team who didn’t find Justice Abang’s ruling satisfactory, resorted to filing an application challenging the judgment in March 2020.
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How Metuh challenged high court verdict at appeal
The appellant argued that the federal high court did not give him a fair trial accusing Justice Abang of being biased as his counsel made reference to some remarks of the judge.
Delivering judgment on December 16, 2020, a three-member panel of justices agreed that the trial judge showed bias against the appellant.
Consequently, he was released from prison on December 24, 2020.
In line with the court of appeal order, Metuh’s case file was re-assigned to Emeka Nwite for the defendant to take a fresh plea.
Court remands Rochas Okorocha in EFCC custody
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the federal high court in Abuja has ordered the detention of Senator Rochas Okorocha in the custody of the EFCC.
He was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a 17-count charge bordering on money laundering.
Meanwhile, Rochas was arraigned alongside an APC stalwart who was also alleged for conspiring with the former Imo state governor to divert public funds to private accounts.
My father's arrest is political – Okorochas daughter
Reacting to his arrest, Okorocha's daughter, Uloma Nwosu alleged that the arrest of her father was politically facilitated.
She further alleged that her father had not been quizzed by the anti-graft agency since his forceful arrest from his Abuja residence.
The EFCC, however, denied the allegation stating that Senator Rochas was arrested on the premise of jumping administrative bail earlier granted to him in his previous case with the commission.
Source: Legit.ng
