A former Chief of Air Staff, Mohammed Umar, who is being tried on a seven-count charge of laundering N4.8 billion has asked for an out-of-court settlement.
At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, Mr. Umar’s Counsel, Hassan Liman, informed the court of moves by his client to have the matter settled out of court.
Mr. Liman disclosed that his client has had several meetings with officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and a formal letter addressed to the Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, dated June 6, had already been dispatched.
Mr. Liman, therefore urged the court to grant an adjournment to enable them proceed with the out-of-court settlement in spite of the fact that the matter had been set down for trial but the prosecuting counsel, however, insisted that the out-of-court settlement was not a ground to stop trial since it was not a civil matter.
Justice Nyako, however adjourned the matter till June 16 for commencement of trial on the ground that the condition precedent for trial had not been met by the defence as the defence ought to have filed a summary of defence for the trial to commence.
