Alleged $1.3M Fraud: Zaura Loses Bid To Stop Trial

The All Progressives Congress, APC senatorial candidate for Kano Central, Abdulsalam Sale Abdulkarim aka A.A Zaura has lost his bid to stop his corruption trial as the Supreme Court on Thursday November 24, 2022 struck out his two applications to stop the Federal High Court, Kano, from trying him. In dismissing the applications, the apex court further directed the APC senatorial candidate to appear before the Federal High Court Kano to face the charges preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Zaura is being accused by the Commission for defrauding a Kuwaiti Citizen of the sum of $1,320,000 (One Million Three Hundred and Twenty Thousand Dollars) under the pretext that he is in the business of building properties in Dubai, Kuwait and other Arab countries.

On the 9th June 2020, Justice A.L Allagoa dismissed the charges against Zauro. But dissatisfied at the ruling, the prosecution proceeded to the Appellate Court in Kano. The Appeal Court in a unanimous decision by a three man panel, delivered by Justice Abdullahi M. Bayero, set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court and ordered that the defendant be tried afresh by a different judge.

The case was subsequently assigned to Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa for retrial and arraignment fixed for 31st of October, 2022.

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But since then Zaura has been playing hide and seek by refusing to appear before the court on three occasions.

Instead of appearing for arraignment, he headed for the apex court with two applications, one seeking for interim injunction and the other for an interlocutory injunction to restrain the Federal High Court Kano from taking any step in the case pending the hearing of his appeal at the Supreme Court.

However, when the matter was mentioned on Thursday, the five-man panel of justices led by Justice Inyang Okoro ruled that the Supreme Court has no power under the law to stay proceedings in a criminal matter. The court advised the applicant to withdraw the applications. Both applications were withdrawn and the same struck out, with no objection from the respondent’s counse, l Musa Isah.