An Abuja Federal High Court sitting before Justice Abang Okon has ordered the remand of former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Alex Badeh, in Kuje Prisons pending the determination of his bail.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on Monday arraigned him before the court in an 11-count charge, on offences bothering on money laundering, to which he pleaded not guilty.
It was alleged that Badeh, while being the CDS, among other things between January and December 2013, used dollar equivalent of the sum of N1.4 billion removed from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force to purchase a mansion situated at No. 6, Ogun River Street, Off Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja, an offence contravening Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
The CDS had however denied claims that five properties were acquired for him from the $2.1 billion arms deal funds, insisting that funds for weapons were directly released to the Chief of Air staff, army staff and naval staff and not to him.
He had claimed that, office of the CDS had no operational control of the services and had nothing to do with their spending, saying the EFCC’s claim that he received $800,000 from his director of finance and accounts was untrue.
Having taken his plea, the defence counsel, Samuel Zibiri, informed the court about the bail application it filed, and moved even before his arraignment last week, which the trial judge discountenanced, stating that, it was inappropriate for an accused person to file for bail even before his arraignment.
While Zibiri prayed the court to remand his client in the EFCC custody, Justice Abang ordered that Badeh be kept in Kuje Prisons pending the hearing on his bail application on Thursday, March 10, 2016. The court also fixed Monday, March 14, for commencement of trial on a day-to-day basis.
