BEVERLY HILLS, June 07, (THEWILL) – A former Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshall Mohammed Dikko Umar, who is being prosecuted over charges of corruption to the tune of N4.8bn has told an Abuja Federal High Court that plans are on to get the matter settled out of court.
Umar informed the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako through his lawyer, Hassan Liman, at the resumed hearing of his case on Tuesday that he has made substantive efforts to get the matter settled out of court, stating that his client had a meeting with officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, where discussions were held on the subject matter.
He disclosed that the first meeting, which involved the head of legal department of the commission, the prosecution counsel and Umar, was held on May 31 while another meeting was held on June 3. Present at both meetings was a member of the EFCC task force, Ibrahim Musa and the prosecution counsel, Sylvanus Tahir.
Liman further disclosed that it was resolved that the defendant should send a formal communication to the commission, which he claimed has been done, explaining that the letter which was addressed to the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, was dispatched on the 6th of June, 2016.
In his remarks, Sylvanus Tahir, who admitted that the defendant had written a letter to the chairman of the commission seeking to engage the Federal Government in a discussion over the charge, told the court they are prepared for the day’s business.
The Prosecution Counsel insisted that the out of court settlement was not a ground to stop trial since it was not a civil matter and urged the court to order for commencement of trial.
Responding however, counsel to the defendant maintained that it would be prejudicial to commence trial in view of ongoing attempt to get the matter settled out of court.
