Ex SEC DG, Mounir Gwarzo discharged and acquitted of fraud charges

An FCT High Court has discharged and acquitted the suspended
Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC),
Mounir Gwarzo.

Gwarzo was arraigned on a five-count charge by the Independent
and Corrupt Practices and Other Related Commission (ICPC) along
with Zakawani Garba, a commissioner in SEC for allegedly paying
himself severance benefits of N104.8m and N10.4m in excess of car
grant while still in service.

Ruling on his no-case submission on Tuesday, the trial judge,
Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, held that the ICPC did not prove any
of the essential elements of the offence against Gwarzo.

The judge held that evidence led by ICPC were contradictory and
have been so discredited that no reasonable tribunal could find the
defendant guilty.

The judge held that the first defendant “is hereby discharged
and acquitted of counts 1, 2 and 3 and by inference, all the charge
against him.”

The judge also discharged and acquitted the second defendant,
Garba of the two counts against him.

Daily Trust reports that the former Minister of Finance at a
press briefing on 8th December 2017 stated that Gwarzo suspension
followed proven cases of financial misconduct, unlawful catting
away of sensitive documents, in addition to unsatisfactory response
to queries served him.

However, Gwarzo responded at a public hearing held on January
30th 2018 by the House of Representatives Committee on the Capital
Market and Institutions that Adeosun suspended him because of his
refusal to comply with her directives to stop the forensic audit of
Oando.