THE Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property (SPIPRPP) has granted bail to governorship candidate of Imo State All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Hope Uzodinma.
He was arrested late on Sunday evening at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on his way from Lagos, aboard an Air Peace aircraft.
A source at the SPIPRPP said he was allowed on bail on health ground and upon his promise to report back today after a meeting with his doctor.
Uzodinma was picked at about 8.20pm by operatives of the SPIPRPP over his alleged failure to honour the panel’s several invitations in relation to its investigation on allegation of economic sabotage.
It was learnt that Uzodinma is being investigated over his company’s alleged failure to execute a contract of $12 million for the dredging of Calabar channel awarded by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA).
A senior official of the SPIPRPP confided in The Nation yesterday that Uzodinma was released on “bail Sunday night on humanitarian ground and asked to report back today (Monday) at 10am”.
“When he did not come, my operatives laid siege in his residence. Then, he later pleaded with us to allow him see his doctor and report tomorrow (Tuesday).
Uzodinma is also linked with other cases, including a case over his alleged failure to disclose his assets, as reflected in a two count charge now pending before Justice Babatunde Quadri of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The Orlu serving senator and his firms are equally involved in a pending criminal case before the Upper Area Court, Arab Road, Kubwa, Abuja.
The case was initiated via a criminal complaint filed by a company, Chimex Ventures Ltd and its promoter, Chima Akuzie, who claimed that the senator issued them a N200 million UBA dud cheque.
Akuzie stated that Uzodinma sub-contracted to his company, a shoreline protection project in Koko, Delta State, which he (Uzodinma) allegedly got from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and that the dud cheque was intended as payment for their successful execution of the project.
On October 29, Judge Abdulwahab Muhammed referred the case to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further action after Uzodinma (the defendant) failed to attend court to answer to the complaint.
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