Former Head of Service of the Federation, Chief Steve Oronsaye, has been once again discharged and acquitted in the alleged N190 million fraud trial brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in a judgment on Monday, cleared Oronsaye of the fraud charges, citing a lack of merit in the allegations presented by the EFCC.
Justice Ekwo concluded that the EFCC failed to provide sufficient evidence to support Oronsaye’s conviction.
Oronsaye had initially been arraigned alongside Osarenkhoe Afe, the Managing Director of Fedrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, on a 49-count charge. However, the charges were later amended and reduced to 22 counts after the EFCC separated the portions related to a former head of the Presidential Pension Task Force, Abdulrasheed Maina, who was then at large.
Subsequently, Maina was separately charged by the EFCC and ultimately convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison in November 2021.
The EFCC had also included three companies—Cluster Logistic Limited, Kangolo Dynamic Cleaning Limited, and Drew Investment & Construction Company Limited—in the charges against Oronsaye, alleging that the defendants had diverted public funds through procurement fraud between 2010 and 2011.
Additionally, the EFCC accused Oronsaye and others of embezzling money from pensioners’ funds through inflated biometrics enrollment contracts, collective allowances, and other schemes.
Based on the court’s findings, Justice Ekwo determined that the EFCC failed to present substantial evidence to establish the alleged corruption charges against Oronsaye.
Consequently, Justice Ekwo dismissed the charges against Oronsaye, thereby acquitting and discharging him.
It is worth noting that Justice Olasumbo Goodluck of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, who has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal, had previously dismissed similar fraud charges against Oronsaye, citing their frivolous nature and lack of merit that could lead to the defendant’s conviction