Alleged N1.6bn fraud: Ex-AGF enters plea bargain agreement with EFCC

The former acting Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Anamekwe Nwabuoku, has entered a plea bargain agreement with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in his trial for alleged N1.6 billion fraud.

EFCC’s Counsel, Ogechi Ujam, informed Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, at the resumed hearing on Monday.

When the matter was called, Ujam told the court that on the last adjourned date, Nwabuoku and his co-defendant, Felix Nweke, had submitted a proposal for settlement.

She said the parties in the charge had agreed and that the agreement had been submitted to the EFCC’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, for approval.

The counsel said: “So we are asking for a date to file our plea bargain agreement and amended charge.”

Nwabuoku’s lawyer, Isidal Udenko, and Emeka Onyeaka, who represented Nweke, also admitted that their clients had opted for a plea bargain.

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Justice Omotosho subsequently adjourned the matter till December 2 for the adoption of a plea bargain agreement.

The EFCC arraigned the duo on an 11-count charge of money laundering.

Nwabuoku and Nweke, a former Deputy Director in the Ministry of Defence, were arraigned for alleged money laundering offences to the tune of N1.6 billion.

The commission alleged that the defendants perpetrated the act while Nwabuoku served as the Director of Finance and Accounts in the Ministry of Defence between 2019 and 2021.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Nwabuoku as acting AGF on May 20, 2022, after Ahmed Idris was suspended as AGF over alleged N80 billion fraud.

He was however removed in July 2022, a few weeks after assumed office.

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