N19.2BN Fraud: Court Dismisses Charge Against Former Governor Timipre Sylva.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed N19.2bn fraud charges filed against a former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva.

The judge held that the charges amounted to abuse of court process. In the charge, Sylva was alleged to have used three separate companies and siphoned the sum of N19.2bn from the Bayelsa state treasury. According to EFCC, the fraud was perpetuated between 2009 and 2012 when Sylva was governor of the state.

The Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mr. M.S Diri, had earlier withdrawn another six-court charge against Sylva, wherein he was ‎accused of involvement in the illegal diversion of N6.5billion also from the coffers of Bayelsa State.

Sylva was in the charge, alleged to have used three separate companies and siphoned the sum of N19.2bn from the Bayelsa state treasury.

EFCC insisted that the fraud was perpetuated between 2009 and 2012 when Sylva held sway as governor of the state.

Sylva is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and was a member of the transition committee of President ‎Muhammadu Buhari.

The Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mr. M.S Diri, had earlier withdrawn another six-court charge against Sylva, wherein he was ‎accused of involvement in the illegal diversion of N6.5billion also from the coffers of Bayelsa State.