The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, has been arraigned at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Recall that the Federal Government reduced the criminal charges preferred against Emefiele to six.
The trial has been stalled three times so far and on Wednesday, November 15, the trial was stalled due to the nationwide strike action embarked upon by organized labour.
In the initial charge, the Federal Government alleged that the procurement fraud was to the tune of N6.5 billion.
The original charges were first filed in August 2023, when Emefiele was charged alongside a female CBN employee, Sa’adatu Yaro, and her company, April 1616 Investment.
Their arraignment before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was stalled on two occasions, as the Department of State Services, DSS, failed to produce Emefiele in court.
The Federal Government amended the charges against him following his release by the DSS and immediate re-arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on October 27.
In the amended charge sheet marked CR/577/2023, the charges still border on procurement fraud, but the counts have been reduced from 20 to six.
Also, the quantum of the alleged procurement fraud was reduced from N6.9 billion to N1.2 billion. Emefiele is the only defendant in the new charge.
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