EFCC will on May 23 arriagn former aviation minister, Hadi Sirika and his brother, Ahmad before the Garki Division of the FCT High Court on fresh eight-count charge.
They were slated to be arraigned before Justice Suleman Belgore, but the arraignment was stalled because Mr Sirika and his brother were absent from court.
The EFCC had filed an eight-count charge bordering on abuse of office, criminal breach of trust, and use of position for gratification against the former minister under former President Muhammadu Buhari, his brother, and a company, Enginos Nigeria Limited.
The anti-corruption commission had alleged that Sirika conferred an unfair advantage upon Enginos Nigeria Limited, whose alter ego is his biological brother, Ahmad, by using his position to influence the award of a contract for the construction of a terminal building at Katsina Airport for the sum of N1,345,586,500.
EFCC further alleged that the former minister used his position to influence the award of a contract for the establishment of a Fire Truck Maintenance and Refurbishment Centre at Katsina Airport for N3,811,497,685.
It also, among other things, alleged that Ahmad and Enginos Nigeria Limited were in possession of an aggregate sum of N2,337,840,674.16, which they knew indirectly represented the proceeds of the former minister’s criminal conduct.
According to the EFCC, the offence was committed in Abuja between August 2022 and May 2023.
When the case was called earlier, the prosecuting counsel, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, informed the court that the defendants were not in court.
According to him, the defendants’ counsel had informed him that the defendants were not in Abuja and that they had yet to be served the charges filed against them in court.