A former minister of power and steel, Olu Agunloye, joined the inmates of Abuja’s Kuje prison on Wednesday after a court ruling to that effect.
Agunloye is standing trial for fraudulent award of contract and official corruption 21 years after he left office. He served under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government between 1999 and 2003.
According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the ex-minister suspiciously awarded a US$6 billion contract for a hydropower project to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, SPTCL, a week before the end of his tenure as power minister.
The EFCC said he did so “without any budgetary provision, approval and cash backing.”
Though the project was subsequently abandoned because of several controversies, investigations by the EFCC revealed that Agunloye was compensated with N3,600,000 by the company on 10 August 2019.
Agunloye pleaded “Not guilty” to the charges. His attorney, Adola Adedipe, SAN, informed the court that he had filed a bail application and prayed the court to grant the former minister bail and commit him to the custody of the EFCC.
But Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the FCT High Court ruled that Agunloye be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre and set Thursday, 11 January for a hearing on the bail application.
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