A HIGH Court sitting in Benin City, Edo State has struck out the case of alleged misappropriation of N113 million belonging to the Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
The case was brought before the court by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) against a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Simon Imuekheme and three SUBEB officials.
They were erstwhile chairman of the Board, Sir Joseph Emoabino, David Eson Igbinoba and Aghator Gaskin Efe.
The ICPC had in March 2014 taken the officials to court over the alleged fraud.
In her judgment, the presiding judge, Justice Esther Edigin, noted that the prosecutor failed in his case when it charged the four accused persons under Section 22 (5) of the ICPC Act 2000 which was defunct, noting that the law in operation was the 2003 ICPC Act authenticated by the National Assembly in 2007.
“The Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000 under which these persons were arraigned had ceased to be part of the body of Nigerian law having been repealed by Section 55 of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2003.
So at the time the accused persons were said to have committed that offence stated in the charge, the 2000 Act was no longer in existence,” she said, adding that it would be travesty of justice to convict one under a non- existent law.
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