The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has cleared the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Justice Dandali Umar, of any culpability in the N10 million bribery allegation leveled against him. The clearance was formally conveyed by the EFCC to Justice Umar in a letter signed by the Secretary of the commission, Emmanuel Adegboyega Aremo. The letter was addressed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The clearance, according to a document obtained by Vanguard, followed the inability of the commission to establish a prima facie evidence against Umar. Umar was investigated by the anti-graft agency over allegation that he demanded N10 million bribe from a retired Customs officer, Rasheed Owolabi, who was said to have had issues with the CCT.
He is said to have collected the sum of N1.8 million from Owolabi through the account of his Special Assistant, Ali Gambo Abdullahi. However, the EFCC said that after investigating the case for sometime, it became clear that the whole allegation bordered in the realm of mere suspicion and that it would be difficult to charge the CCT judge to court based in the allegation. The latest clearance letter was second to the one sent on March 5,2015 during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.