By Ismail Auwal
Court of Appeal on Wednesday overturned a judgment of the Federal High Court Kano that discharged and acquitted a Kano State gubernatorial candidate, Abdulsalam Sale Abdulkarim Zaura, popularly known as AA Zaura, over an alleged $1.32 million fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), arraigned A. A. Zaura and one Michael Edosa in 2020 for allegedly defrauding an Iranian national, Sheikh Jamman Al-Azmi, of $1.32 million with the intent to conduct a joint venture business together.
On the 9th June 2020, Honorable Justice Allagoa found the defendant not guilty and discharged him on all counts.
Dissatisfied with the lower court’s decision, Musa Isah, counsel for the prosecution, appealed the case to the court of appeals in an attempt to overturn the lower court’s decision.
The Federal High Court’s judgment was overturned in a unanimous decision by three-man panel judges of the Court of Appeal, delivered by Justice Abdullahi M. Bayero.
Bayero also ordered that the defendant be retried before a different judge than Justice Allagoa.
The main point of contention in the appeal was that the accused person was not present in court when the judgement was delivered, and it was held in several Supreme Court decisions that an accused person must always be present in court throughout his trial, including the judgement.
In this regard, the court of appeals found the appeal to be meritorious and upheld it accordingly.
“Having determined the issue in favor of the appellant, the appeal naturally succeeds. The judgment of the lower court in suit number FHCK/CR2018/ FRN against Abdulsalam Sale Abdulkarim delivered on June 9th, 2020 is hereby set aside.”
Bayero further ordered that the case be reverted to the Federal High Court and begin afresh.
