Appeal Court Orders for Retrial of Kano Guber Aspirant over $1.32m Fraud
AREWA AGENDA – Kano State gubernatorial candidate, Abdulsalam Sale Abdulkarim Zaura (AA Zaura) has a case to answer over alleged $1.32 million fraud, a Court of Appeal has ruled on Wednesday.
The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel delivered by Justice Abdullahi M. Bayero, overturned a judgment of the Federal High Court Kano that discharged and acquitted Mr Zaura.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Mr Zaura and one Michael Edosa in 2020 for allegedly defrauding an Iranian national, Sheikh Jamman Al-Azmi of $1.32 million with the intent to conduct a joint venture business together.
On June, 2020, Justice Allagoa of Federal High Court found the accused not guilty and discharged him on all counts.
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Counsel to the prosecution, Mr Musa Isah, had appealed the case to the court of appeals in an attempt to overturn the lower court’s decision.
Justice Bayero also ordered that the defendant be retried before a different judge other than Justice Allagoa.
The main point of contention in the appeal was that the accused person was not present in court when the judgement was delivered, and it was held in several Supreme Court decisions that an accused person must always be present in court throughout his trial, including the judgement.
In this regard, the Court of Appeal found the appeal to be meritorious and upheld it accordingly.
Justice Bayero said, “Having determined the issue in favor of the appellant, the appeal naturally succeeds. The judgment of the lower court in suit number FHCK/CR2018/ FRN against Abdulsalam Sale Abdulkarim delivered on June 9th, 2020 is hereby set aside.”
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