FG withdraws charge against civil servant arrested over ownership of 86 exotic cars, houses

The government withdrew two-count criminal charge it filed against the director of finance and account in the federal ministry of power, works and housing Tumsah over his alleged failure to declare his ownership of 86 exotic car.

- The federal government has dropped its charges filed against civil servant arrested over ownership of 86 exotic cars, houses

- A lawyer in the prosecution team said the government would re-file the charge after “proper and thorough investigation” is conducted in the case

- The government had earlier disclosed that out of the 86 vehicles that were seized from the defendants, 23 of them were amoured and brand new

The federal government, on Tuesday, April 17, withdrew the two-count criminal charge it filed against the director of finance and account in the federal ministry of power, works and housing, Ibrahim Tumsah over his alleged failure to declare his ownership of 86 exotic cars.

Vanguard reports that cars recovered by EFCC from ex-customs boss Inde Tumsah was docked before the Federal High Court in Abuja alongside his brother Tijani who was a member of the presidential committee on north east Initiative and a former Interim National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The duo had pleaded not guilty to the charge that was prepared by the Okoi Obono-Obla-led special presidential investigation panel on the recovery of public property.

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The government through its lawyer, Festus Keyamo, applied to withdraw the charge. The defendants had at the last sitting, persuaded the court to grant them a short adjournment to enable parties to explore an out-of-court-settlement of the matter.

The government’s application to withdraw the case, trial Justice Nnamdi Dimgba struck out the charge.

A lawyer in the prosecution team said the government would re-file the charge after “proper and thorough investigation” is conducted in the case.

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The federal government had earlier disclosed that out of the 86 vehicles that were seized from the defendants, 23 of them were amoured and brand new. Equally seized from the defedants were four houses and a quarry plant in Abuja.

Justice Dimgba had granted bail to the defendants to the tune of N20million with two sureties. The court said the sureties must either be a business man or a public civil servant not below the rank of grade level 15, and must own landed properties anywhere in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that customs said that it recovered a 2018 model Range Rover SUV inside a forest in Ifo local government where it was reportedly abandoned by smugglers as officials of the command approached them.

Sani Madugu, the controller of the command, said this on Thursday, February 22, at the Idiroko border in his speech with newsmen about the seizures made in the area. He said the car was among the 13 smuggled vehicles it has impounded recently.

Madugu stated that this is ‘the seizure of the month’, adding that the vehicle has a total duty payable value of N51.2m.

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Source: Naija.ng