Former Governor In Soup Over Alleged N47bn Fraud

<h4>Former Governor In Soup<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the immediate past governor of Abia State&comma; Mr&period; Theodore Ahamafuele Orji&comma; and four others&comma; were&comma; on Friday&comma; arraigned before Aba High Court of Abia State&comma; for allegedly misappropriating the sum of N47 billion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Orji and his co-defendants were arraigned before the court presided over by Justice Lilian Abai&comma; by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission &lpar;EFCC&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Others arraigned alongside Theodore Ahamafuele Orji were&colon; his son&comma; Engineer Chinedum Orji&comma; Dr&period; Philip Nto&comma; a former Commissioner of Finance for Abia State&comma; Obioma King&comma; a government contractor and Romas Madu&comma; former Director of Finance for Abia State&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They were arraigned before the Chief Judge on a 16-count charge bothering on conspiracy to steal and convert billions of naira meant for various government programs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Specifically&comma; they are accused of misappropriating N22&period;5 billion allocated for security votes from 2011 to 2015&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They were also accused of stealing N13 billion from a loan facility granted by Diamond Bank&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And for illegal conversion of N12 billion from the Paris Club refund&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lastly&comma; they are also accused of converting N10&period;5 billion from a loan granted by First Bank&comma; meant for the Abia State government and its local councils&comma; along with N2 billion from Central Bank of Nigeria &lpar;CBN&rpar; funds designated for small and medium enterprises&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the beginning of the proceedings&comma; the lead prosecutor&comma; Mr&period; Kemi Pinheiro &lpar;SAN&rpar;&comma; requested that the court registrar read the charges aloud to the defendants to allow them to enter their pleas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Pinheiro emphasized the importance of ensuring that the defendants fully understood the charges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All five defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; lawyer to the defendantse counsel&comma; including Bode Olanipekun &lpar;SAN&rpar; &lpar;represented the first defendant&rpar;&comma; Chikaosulu Ojukwu SAN appeared for the second defendant&quest;&comma; K&period; I&period; Oleh Esq&period;&comma; Okey Amechi SAN&comma; and Isaac Anya Esq&period;&comma; filed bail applications on behalf of their clients&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the prosecutor did not object to the bail requests&comma; they prayed the court to use its discretion when determining the conditions of bail&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After a short stand down&comma; Justice Abai granted the defendants bail and adjourned till June 18 and 19&comma; for trial&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;