A FEDERAL High Court in Abuja has granted an order to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest and detain the Deputy Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Amarachi Iwuanyawu, over an alleged N785 million fraud.
Iwuanyanwu allegedly used his private company, Sun Gold Estate Limited, based in Abuja, to perpetrate the fraud.
Justice Inyang Ekwo granted the order on Friday, November 25, while ruling on an ex-parte application brought before him by the EFCC.
Ekwo ordered that when apprehended, the Imo lawmaker should be detained till February 23 next year, when he would be expected to be brought to the court by the anti-graft agency.
EFCC lawyer Olarewaju Adeola told the court that the Deputy Speaker was alleged to have, in 2012, entered into an agreement with another Abuja-based Company, Hokiz Investment Limited.
In the agreement, the Deputy Speaker allegedly used his Sun Gold Estate Limited to agree to build 14 units of four bedrooms terrace and one block of six flats on the land of Hokiz Investment Limited at Mabushi in Abuja.
The EFCC claimed that the two parties agreed that 40 per cent of the buildings would be allocated to Hokiz Investment Limited, the land owner, while Sun Gold Estate, as a developer and belonging to the Deputy Speaker, would retain 60 per cent.
However, upon completion, Sun Gold Estate Limited was said to have sold off all the buildings without the knowledge of the land owner.
The EFCC informed the court that a petition against the Deputy Speaker, signed by Abdullahi Malik (SAN) on behalf of the aggrieved party, was being investigated.
EFFC affirmed that all efforts to make the Deputy Speaker show up on invitations in respect of the allegations were unsuccessful, hence, the request for a court order to apprehend him.
The anti-graft agency claimed that information at its disposal revealed that the suspect had escaped to the United States of America.
Ekwo, after listening to Adeola, ordered that the anti-graft Agency should go after the Deputy Speaker, arrest him in any part of the world, detain, and produce him in court on February 23, 2023.
A reporter with the ICIR
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