• Friday, March 29, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Calcol rejects discharge, acquittal of SEC DG

Mournir Haliru Gwarzo

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, (CACOL) has faulted the discharge and acquittal of Mournir Haliru Gwarzo, the suspended Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who was standing trial, alongside a commissioner of the commission, Zakwanu Garuba, at a Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja.

Gwarzo and Garuba were accused of mismanagement of about N115million (One Hundred and Fifteen Million Naira) public funds entrusted in their care and other sundry offences bordering on corruption.

In a release signed by the anti-Corruption Coalition’s coordinator for Media and Publications, Adegboyega Otunuga, CALCOL noted that it had in 2014 written a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) detailing how Gwarzo was running the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) as his personal estate.

He said the organisation had accused Gwarzo of appointing companies with links to him and some of his rookies in office to carry out transactions and provide services to the Commission.

The statement further urged the new chairman of ICPC, Bolaji Owasanoye, to appeal the judgment and institute a fact-finding team to investigate and ascertain what led to the shoddy prosecution.

Related News

“Unfortunately, we were compelled to raise an alert after noticeable shoddy manner in which the process to set Gwarzo free of alleged corruption charges and abuse of office was playing out at the trial due to the lack of proper presentation of the case by the ICPC investigator, Taiwo Olorunyomi.

“Ironically, what we feared most has happened by this final judicial outcome. We are however, herein calling on the Chairman of ICPC, Bolaji Owasanoye, whom we are convinced is a man of much integrity, to appeal this unacceptable judgment and institute a fact-finding team to investigate and ascertain what must have led to this obvious, shoddy prosecution that traded this high profile corruption case away.”

 

Iniobong Iwok