A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has discharged and acquitted a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, and five others of the N544 million contract fraud charge brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Court yesterday held that the anti-graft agency failed woefully to establish a prima facie case against the ex-SGF and his co-defendants.

In a ruling on the no case submission made by Lawal and others, Justice Charles Agbaza held that no ingredients of any offence was made out by the 11 witnesses that testified for the EFCC.

The Judge held that the EFCC did not establish that Lawal was either a member of the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE) that awarded the contract or a member of the Ministerial Tenders Board that vetted and gave approval to the disputed contract.

Besides, Justice Agbaza held that the EFCC also failed to link Lawal with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) that issued a certificate of no objection to the contract before it was awarded.

The Judge, therefore, discharged and acquitted all the defendants of the 10-count criminal charge preferred against them for want of evidence to link them with the purported offences.

Lawal, alongside his younger brother, Hamidu Lawal, Suleiman Abubakar, Apeh Monday and two companies, Rholavision Engineering Limited and Josmon Technologies Limited were prosecuted by the EFCC before Justice Agbaza.

They faced a 10-count charge bordering on fraud relating to the removal of evasive plant species to the tune of N544 million for which they pleaded not guilty.

The EFCC had on Monday, November 30, 2020, re-arraigned the former SGF before Justice Agbaza.