Rear Admiral Tahir Yusuf Biu, a former naval commander who is accused of stealing N1.3 billion from the Nigerian Navy, is purportedly on the run and is unreachable, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, has informed a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The anti-graft organisation claimed that since March 16 of this year, when a 9-count criminal complaint was brought against Admiral Biu, all attempts to determine his location had been ineffective.
Mr. Cosmas Obeta Ugwu, the attorney for the EFCC, expressed regret that the defendant’s whereabouts were unknown and that, as a result, he could not be brought before the court to answer the accusations levelled against him.
Rear Admiral Biu is alleged to have violated Section 15 (2) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act on November 30, 2015, in Abuja, by taking possession of N100 million transferred into his Bitmas Enterprises personal company bank account with account number 1011904172 at Zenith Bank from the Naval Headquarters account housed at Zenith Bank.
According to the charge sheet, N135.4 million from the personnel account of the Defense Intelligence Agency was moved to Biu’s Bitmas Enterprises account 1001439871 on March 14, 2012, and N197.8 million was also transferred in a similar way to the Bitmas account.
He was also accused by the EFCC of illegally transferring N148 million from the Defense Intelligence Agency to his business account at Zenith Bank and N334 million into the same company’s account in a similar way.
Additionally, it was claimed that Admiral Biu had obtained N20 million from the Defense Intelligence Agency and N152 million from another source that had been transferred to the firm account.
The former Naval Chief is also accused of transferring $300,000 from a Navy personal account intended for the purchase of furnishings for the Navy Secondary School at Okura to his business account held at Zenith Bank before fleeing to an unidentified location, according to the anti-graft agency.
Ugwu portrayed a bleak image of being unable to find the defendant for arrest and court arraignment when the matter first came up, but Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo disagreed with the anti-graft agency on the topic.
Justice Ekwo concluded that the agency was squandering state resources and noted that many legislation allow the EFCC broad authority to extradite anyone from a hiding place for prosecution when necessary.
Therefore, the Judge threatened to throw out the criminal charges if the agency returned to court at the next postponed date with the same justification.
Later, he set February 22, 2023, as the final adjournment before the EFCC must present the defendant in court or risk having the charge dropped.
