Former Imo state Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha is to remain in the custody of the Economic and FinancialCrimes Commission (EFCC) as the Abuja division of the Federal High Court on Friday, rejected his bail request.
Ekwo had, in the last adjourned date, given the anti-corruotion commission May 30 as the last time the matter would be adjourned following the EFCC’s complaint that it had been unable to serve Okorocha despite several efforts.
The judge had threatened to strike out the case if the EFCC failed to produce the senator in the next adjourned date, after two adjournments for his arraignment.
Operatives of the Commission on Tuesday arrested the former governor after over six hours of a siege at his house.
He was arrested on Tuesday evening at about 6:30 p.m. at his residence in the Maitama area of Abuja.
The EFCC, has preferred a 17-count money laundering charge against former Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
EFCC alleged that Okorocha who piloted affairs of Imo state from 2011 to 2019, conspired and diverted public funds to the tune of about N2.9 billion.
According to the anti-graft agency, the Defendants committed the alleged offence between October 2014 and February 2016.
It alleged that the Defendants sequentially siphoned funds from the Imo State Government House account and Imo State Joint Local Government Project account, and diverted same into accounts of private firms.
The charge was filed before the court on a day Okorocha who is currently the Senator representing Imo West, declared his intention to contest for presidency in the 2023 general elections.
