Nigeria: Fake Agency - ICPC Re-Amends Charges Against Adeyemi, Adds Four Civil Servants As Co-Defendants

What the report says

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has filed a fresh amended case against Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man prosecutors describe as the head of a non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council. According to Premium Times, as republished by AllAfrica, the new filing increases the case from 22 counts to 36 and adds four civil servants as co-defendants.

The additional defendants are said to come from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. They are accused of helping facilitate the alleged fake agency and its inclusion in Nigeria’s budget process. The case is being heard at the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, and Monday’s sitting was interrupted because one of the new defendants was absent on health grounds.

Prosecutors told the court the matter now amounts to a joint trial involving five defendants. The judge adjourned the case to 18 November for arraignment and ordered Adeyemi returned to Kuje Correctional Centre, while the other defendants were sent back to the ICPC detention facility.

The report says the allegations include forgery, impersonation, corruption-related offences and claims that Adeyemi obtained large sums for setting up and running the fictitious council. He has denied the charges. The case has already gone through several procedural delays since police first filed charges last year, before the ICPC later took over and amended them.