He was said to have been arrested around 12 midnight on Tuesday while trying to board an Egypt Air flight to Cairo for under-declaring the money in his possession.
An official of the Nigerian Customs Service at the airport told our correspondent that the Jigawa Governor's son declared only $10,000 (N1.5m) while another $40,000 (about N6m) was found in his possession.
Altogether, he was said to have had $50,000 (about N7.5m) on him.
Under the IATA traveling laws, the total amount in Aminu's kitty far exceeded the $10,000 allowed on international travels as Basic Traveling Allowance (BTA).
The anonymous source further revealed that Aminu will be subjected to thorough legal process for not declaring the whole amount in his possession.
Further checks by our correspondent revealed that the Governor's son plies the Kano-Cairo route on regular basis with heavy amount of cash.
Reports disclosed that EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the arrest to newsmen.
He was quoted to have said the EFCC office in Kano will charge the Governor's son to court as soon as practicable.
He also confirmed that the embattled suspect is currently under custody in EFCC, Kano office.
All officials of the Jigawa State Government contacted by our correspondent over the matter declined to comment.
On their parts, state Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Babandi Gumel, and Lamido's Special Adviser on Media, Umar Kyari, both refused to pick their calls.
Gumel, however, sent a text message indicating that he was attending a meeting.
In a related development, an Ibadan High Court on Tuesday ruled that immediate past Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, and two others currently facing charges of corruption before it have case to answer.
Justice Akintunde Boade ruled that Alao-Akala, his former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Hosea Agboola, and a business man, Femi Babalola, standing trial on allegation of N11.5 billion fraud brought against them by the EFCC should face trial.
The ruling was sequel to the application seeking to quash the 11-count charge brought against them, including conspiracy, illegal award of contracts, obtaining by false pretence, acquiring property with money derived from illegal act, and concealing ownership of such property.
Counsel to the accused persons, led by Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had filed a preliminary objection to the charges, asking the court to quash them, as they did not disclose any substantial evidence to warrant the accused persons standing full trial based on the allegations.
The counsel asked the court to strike out or dismiss the charges, noting that it was sheer oppression and abuse of power to put anybody on trial on the offence that was not proved.
But, the prosecution team, led by Godwin Oblah, told the court that the plethora of evidence adduced by the EFCC against the accused persons deserved an explanation, praying the court to discountenance the application seeking the quashing of the charge.
In his ruling, which lasted 40 minutes, Justice Boade held that the application to quash the charge was not meritorious and was therefore dismissed.
"The three accused persons have some things to explain; I am of the strong view that the proof of evidence is established against the accused persons," the judge stated.
Justice Boade noted that having taken the pleas of the accused persons in line with the provision of Section 167 of the Civil Procedure Law, they (accused) could not challenge the jurisdiction of the court.
On the claim by Alao-Akala that he was not a public officer and so could not be tried by the EFCC, the judge found otherwise, quoting relevant authorities to support the fact that the application to quash the charge lacked merit.
Leading the defence counsel yesterday was Mamman Osumor (SAN), who after the ruling, commended the judge for his industry, but said "notwithstanding, we do not accept this ruling as a correct position of law."
"For we, the lawyers, who are counsel to the three accused persons, our legal opinion is that the position taken by the judge is erroneous in law.
"But because we are not the litigants, or the accused persons, we will await further instructions from our clients," Osumor said, indicating that the ruling might be appealed.
Osumor had requested that the certified true copy (CTC) of the ruling be made ready on time, to which the judge said would be ready within seven days to give the signal that the ruling was likely to be appealed.
Source: DailyIndependent
Sent from my BlackBerry® Smartphone, from Etisalat. Enjoy high speed internet service with Etisalat easy net, available at all our experience centres
No comments:
Post a Comment