A Excessive Court docket of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Maitama, Abuja, has rejected key proof offered by the {Economic} and {Financial} Crimes Fee (EFCC) within the ongoing N2.8 billion fraud trial involving former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika.
The trial decide, Sylvanus Oriji, dominated on Thursday that extra-judicial statements made by two co-defendants within the case couldn’t be admitted as proof.
The affected defendants are Mr Sirika’s daughter, Fatima Sirika, and her husband, Jalal Hamma.
In keeping with the court docket, “The statements of the second and third defendants (Ms Sirika and Jalal Hamma) made on the {Economic} and {Financial} Crimes Fee (EFCC) workplace are inadmissible for non-compliance with the supply of Part 15(4) of the Administration of Legal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.”
The ruling adopted objections raised by the defence crew. The attorneys argued that the statements weren’t voluntarily made. They claimed the paperwork had been obtained below stress. This led the court docket to conduct a trial-within-trial to find out their validity.
Throughout the listening to, an EFCC investigator, Adekunle Odofin, instructed the court docket that each defendants willingly wrote their statements. He mentioned Fatima Sirika visited the EFCC workplace on February 26, 2024, with two attorneys and submitted her assertion voluntarily. He added that Jalal Hamma additionally honoured an invite the subsequent day and wrote his personal assertion within the presence of a lawyer.
Nonetheless, the investigator admitted that the classes weren’t recorded on video.
Counsel to the EFCC, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, maintained that the method complied with the regulation. He argued that video recording of statements just isn’t obligatory when a suspect offers a press release willingly. He identified that the regulation makes use of the phrase “could,” suggesting discretion.
The defence disagreed. They insisted that the regulation makes video recording mandatory in such conditions. They argued that failure to conform renders the statements invalid.
In his ruling, Justice Oriji disagreed with the EFCC’s place. He held that the usage of “could” within the regulation doesn’t take away the obligation of regulation enforcement officers to comply with correct process. He concluded that there was clear non-compliance with the related provision of the ACJA.
With that, the court docket rejected the statements, which had been thought-about central to the prosecution’s case.
Following the ruling, defence counsel to Jalal Hamma, Sanusi Musa, drew the court docket’s consideration to an earlier utility filed in October 2025. The applying seeks to strike out the complete proof of proof offered by the EFCC.
He argued that the prosecution’s case would collapse if the appliance succeeds, because the proof of proof varieties the spine of the trial.
The prosecution, nevertheless, mentioned it was not able to proceed on the appliance.
The court docket subsequently adjourned the matter to June 2 for continuation of proceedings.
The EFCC is prosecuting Hadi Sirika alongside his daughter, her husband, and their firm, Al Buraq International Funding Restricted, on a six-count cost bordering on contract fraud amounting to N2.8 billion.
The anti-graft company alleges that the previous minister used his place to award contracts to an organization linked to his members of the family whereas he supervised the aviation ministry between 2015 and 2023 below former President Muhammadu Buhari.
A part of the fees contains the alleged award of a N1.5 billion contract for the Katsina Airport apron extension to the corporate. The EFCC additionally claims that about N1.3 billion was traced to Mr Sirika as proceeds of illegal exercise.
The fee mentioned the actions violate provisions of the Impartial Corrupt Practices and Different Associated Offences Fee (ICPC) Act.
All of the defendants have pleaded not responsible, and the trial continues.