The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has filed an appeal challenging the High Court judgment that discharged and acquitted Shamsudeen, son of the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, on N1.1 billion fraud charges.
The anti-graft agency appealed the decision which discharged and acquitted the respondent on nine counts before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.
Earlier on February 1, 2017, Shamsudeen was arraigned before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on 20 counts bordering on money laundering.
The EFCC had alleged that Shamsudeen made payments of huge sums in cash for the purchase of properties in different parts of Abuja without going through a financial institution.
Delivering the ruling on December 14, 2021, on a no-case submission, Justice Dimgba upheld Shamsudeen’s submission in part by dismissing 11 out of the 20 charges.
He was left to defend himself for his failure to declare some of his bank accounts and the amount in them to the EFCC, identity fraud, and forgery.
However, delivering judgment in a suit marked FHC/BAJ/CR/252/2016 on February 7, 2023, Justice Dimgba held that the EFCC failed to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
On the allegations that the defendant forged signatures and documents to access illegal funds, the Judge said the anti-graft agency’s forensic expert did not provide sufficient evidence to prove the charge.
“An allegation that a document is forged is a criminal allegation that must be proved beyond reasonable doubt and not by speculation,” he said.
