The suspended Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Mounir Gwarzo, and a commissioner, Zakwanu Garuba, were today arraigned at an Abuja High Court for alleged acts of corruption involving alleged mismanagement of over N115 million.
Specifically, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, accused Gwarzo of receiving between May and June 2015 the sum of N104,851,154.94 as severance benefit when he had yet to retire, resign or disengage from service and another N10,983,488.88 in excess of car grant in the same period.
Similarly, the anto-corruption agency alleged that Garuba, an Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services of SEC, conferred a corrupt advantage on another public officer in the person of Gwarzo by approving the payments to the suspended SEC boss.
When the charges were read to them before Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Maitama, Abuja, both of them pleaded not guilty to the five counts, three of which related to Gwarzo and the two others to Garuba,
Shortly after the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges, their lawyers moved their separate bail applications in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and filed on May 30.
The defence lawyers, Mr. Abdulhakeem Mustapha, SAN, representing Gwarzo and Mr. A. Malik, counsel to Garuba, urged the court to grant bail to their clients on the same terms and conditions as ICPC had done administratively prior to their arraignment in court today.
The ICPC’s counsel, Mr. Henry Emore, confirmed the defence lawyers’ claim that the defendants had not breached the conditions of the administrative bail earlier granted them by the commission.
After the defence lawyers briefly argued their clients’ separate applications, Justice Baba-Yusuf granted bail to each of them in the sum of N25 million in addition to provision of a surety each.
The judge justified his decision based on the provisions of the ACJA 2015, which allowed granting of bail to a defendant, especially when not opposed by the prosecution.
Justice Baba-Yusuf further ordered that the sureties to be produced by the defendants must not hold below the rank of a Deputy Director in any Federal Government establishment.
In addition, the sureties must be resident and own landed properties in Abuja of which title they must also submit to the court’s registry.
The court adjourned the case until June 28 and 29 for trial
