The corruption trial of former acting Director General of NIMASA, Haruna Jauro, alongside others, facing a N304.1 million fraud charge has been postponed till 13th of December by a Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday.
According to ceoafrica, Mr Jauro, who is standing trial alongside Dauda Bawa and Thlumbau Enterprises Ltd on 19 counts, on fraud offences, assumed leadership of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in acting capacity in July 2015, is charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The EFCC accused Mr Jauro and others of conspiring among themselves to defraud NIMASA to the tune of N304.1 million between January 2014 and September 2015 which led to their arraignment on April 12, and had pleaded not guilty to the charge, while the court had admitted them to bail in the sum of N5 million each, with two sureties each in like sum.
The suit whose prosecution and defence counsels were present was postponed due to the absence of the trial judge, Mojisola Olatoregun.
At the last adjourned date on October 24, the defence counsel had informed the court of his client’s intention to enter into a plea bargain with the EFCC, a position which was also confirmed by the prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, who told the court that the accused had approached the anti-graft agency to explore a bargain option.
Mr Jauro assumed leadership of NIMASA, after an erstwhile Director General of the agency, Patrick Akpobolokemi, who is also being prosecuted alongside others for an alleged multi-billion naira fraud, was removed.
The anti-graft agency alleged that the accused converted the sum for their use.
The prosecution told the court that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 15(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012.
