By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, ABUJA
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, on Thursday, rejected an application that sought to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to release the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Salami, SAN, from its custody.
Malami, who has spent about 10 days in detention, is facing investigation over sundry accusations against him, among which are alleged financial malfeasance regarding the utilisation of recovered loot, as well as his reported links to terrorist financing.
Though the former minister, who had since denied any wrongdoing, was on November 28 granted administrative bail by the anti-graft agency, he was detained on December 8 after he reported for further interrogation.
While he alleged that his bail was arbitrarily revoked after he attended a political rally in his home state, Kebbi, the EFCC refuted the claim, insisting he failed to perfect the bail conditions.
Meantime, determined to secure his freedom, Malami, SAN, through his team of lawyers led by Dr Suliaman Hassan, SAN, approached the court to challenge his continued detention, which he maintained was unlawful and unconstitutional.
He prayed the court to enforce his fundamental human rights by directing the EFCC to forthwith release him from its custody.
On its part, the agency, through its own legal team led by Chief Jubrin Okutepa, SAN, countered the application, even as it persuaded the court to dismiss it for want of merit.
The EFCC stressed that Malami’s detention was based on a valid and subsisting order that was issued by Justice Sylvanus Oriji of the FCT High Court.
Describing itself as a law-abiding institution, the EFCC said it would not detain a suspect beyond the constitutionally allowed timeframe without an order of the court.
After it had listened to both sides, the court, presided over by Justice Babangida Hassan, said it found no merit in Malami’s application.
The court held that no evidence was placed before it to establish that the former AGF was being held in detention illegally.
Acknowledging the remand order issued against the applicant, Justice Hassan held: “Asking this court to grant this application is tantamount to inviting the court to sit as an appellate court over an application granted by a court of coordinate jurisdiction, which this court has no power to do.”
Malami, who was accused of operating suspicious bank accounts, had earlier linked his ordeal to both his membership of a coalition of political parties opposed to the government in power and a report of an investigation that was done while he was in office as the AGF, which he claimed indicted the current Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede.
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