A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the application filed by the former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market, Herman Hembe seeking to quash the corruption charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Abubakar Umar, who presided over application filed by the embattled lawmaker, dismissed the suit on the ground that a prima facie case has been established against Mr Hembe and his co-accused, Chris Azubogu who was the deputy chairman of the committee on capital market.
The Justice also held that the court has jurisdiction to entertain the case filed by the anti-graft agency as the agency had sought the leave of the court to file the two count charge of corruption against the law makers.
For those who might already be forgetting – as Nigerians are wont to do – Herman Membe, in a FaroukGate kind of business, was accused by Arunma Oteh, the Director General (now suspended) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of bribery. Hembe was chairing the house committee saddled with the responsibility of investigating fraud allegations against Arunma Oteh. However, with Oteh’s counter allegations of bribery, the EFCC swung into action, eventually dragging the honorable to court.
The case has been adjourned to 18th of July for trial.
