Court grants former CCT chairman Danladi Umar N100m bail

Court grants former CCT chairman Danladi Umar N100m bail

An FCT High Court sitting in Maitama on Wednesday granted N100 million bail to the former chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar.

The ruling came six days after he was remanded in prison custody.

Justice Peter Kekemeke further directed the erstwhile CCT boss, who is facing a four-count corruption charge, to produce one surety in like sum.

According to the court, the surety must be an owner of a property located within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, who must depose to an affidavit of means.

Also, the court ordered the defendant to surrender his international passport and not travel out of the country without permission.

The case was subsequently adjourned to October 29 for trial.

Umar was, on July 9, after being arraigned before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), remanded to Kuje prison.

The anti-graft agency said its investigations revealed that the defendant abused his official position by conferring an undue advantage on himself while he served as head of the tribunal.

He was alleged to have collected kickbacks totalling about N15.5 million from contractors.

The prosecution told the court that the defendant, in 2021, used his wife’s bank account to collect the sum of N5.5 million from a contractor engaged to paint the headquarters of the CCT in Abuja.

It was further alleged that on January 25, 2024, he also used his wife’s account to collect another N6 million from a contractor who handled the digitisation of the tribunal’s records.

Furthermore, the defendant was accused of directing a contractor to pay N2.43 million for his daughter’s tuition fee at Baze University, Abuja.

He was said to have committed offences punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

However, upon his arraignment, the embattled former CCT chairman pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

At the resumed proceedings on Wednesday, his legal team, led by Sunday Edward, prayed the court to release him on bail pending the conclusion of the trial.

His bail application was anchored on Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as well as Sections 162 and 163 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

Even though the prosecution counsel, Christopher Mshelia, opposed the bail request on the premise that the defendant had the capacity to influence some of the proposed witnesses, Justice Kekemeke dismissed the objection.

He held that nothing was adduced to establish that the defendant could interfere with an investigation that had already concluded, with all documentary evidence frontloaded before the court.

The court further set aside the prosecution’s claim that the defendant could commit another offence or evade trial.

It held that the charges contained bailable offences.