N18.3bn Pension Scam: Judge Fixes November 4 for Hearing

AN Abuja Federal High Court has fixed November 4 for trial of former Director of Pension Accounts, Office of the Head of Civil Ser­vice of the Federation, Sani Shuaibu Teidi, and 11 oth­ers over alleged failure to declare their assets, among other charges. The Economic and Fi­nancial Crimes Com­mission (EFCC) had in a 21-count charge accused Teidi and others of failing to declare assets as well as ob­taining by false pretence, conspiracy and concealing illicit origin of stolen pen­sion funds to the tune of N18.3 billion.
Teidi’s re-arraignment by the EFCC followed his ap­plication to the chief judge through his counsel, Sun­day Ameh (SAN), seeking the transfer of the case to another court over an al­leged bias of the then trial judge.
The trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, had on October 8 advised both the prosecution and defence to exchange all documents ‘needed to be served’, to one another at the appro­priate addresses, before the new adjourned date, saying no excuses would be per­mitted again for extension of the trial.
The accused persons were alleged to have used many companies, including Gozinda Enterprises, Bash­inta Nigeria and Haleath, among others, to steal pen­sion funds.
After entertaining the ar­guements from both coun­sel, Justice Kolawole later fixed November 4 for ‘defi­nite hearing’.