Babachir Lawal is cleared in court of the N544 million “grass cutting” scam.

The N544M Contract Fraud prosecution that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had filed against Babachir Lawal, a former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), and five others has been dropped (EFCC).

Prior to the court’s decision, Lawal was facing criminal charges for suspected money laundering together with his younger brother Hamidu David Lawal, Sulaiman Abubakar, Apeh John Monday, and two businesses, Rholavision Engineering Ltd. and Josmon Technologies Ltd.

On Friday, November 18, Justice Charles Agbaza of the federal high court in Abuja issued the decision, holding that the anti-graft agency had failed to make a case against the former SGF and the co-defendants.

Agbaza added that the anti-graft organization did not establish that Babachir Lawal was either a member of the Presidential Initiative for North East that awarded the contract or a member of the Ministerial Tenders Board that evaluated and approved the disputed contract. Agbaza also noted that no elements of any offense were made out by the 11 witnesses that testified for the EFCC.

According to Justice Agbaza, the EFCC also failed to establish a connection between Babachir Lawal and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), which granted a certificate of no objection to the contract prior to its award.

The judge went on to discharge and acquit all the defendants of the 10-count criminal charges against them for want of evidence to link them with the purported offences.