| Work Detail |
Representatives of the Nigerian Ministry of Transport and the Public Procurement Office appeared before the Federal Supreme Court, today, Wednesday, in the capital, "Abuja", to present their defense of the charges against them against the background of investigations into suspected financial corruption and violations of the countrys public procurement law, within a railway project worth 3.1 billion US dollars It was implemented by a Chinese company.
Before appearing before the Federal Court, the ministry continued to collectively deny that it had received any court summonses, but local company Insight Dynamic Resources Limited succeeded in forcing Transport Minister Rotimi Amaichi and the Director General of the Public Procurement Office to appear in court due to an alleged violation of the procurement law.
Its lawyer, Musa Ibrahim Kochi, was present on behalf of the company to explain the Public Procurement Law of 2007, as well as to consider documents of the Ministry of Transport referred to the Public Procurement Office, to determine whether the purchase was made under the contract awarded to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation "CCECC" in order to launch a new line. For the railways.
After the case was filed, the ministry failed to appear before the court on three different occasions last December, and no lawyer represented it, but at the last date for the postponement, which was on December 21, Gabriel, the director of legal services at the ministry, appeared before the court, but his accompanying legal team He did not show any willingness to defend.
Earlier, Judge Iniang Eku of the Federal Supreme Court in Abuja ordered the Ministry of Transport and the Public Procurement Office to maintain the status quo in awarding a contract to build the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway project at a cost of $ 3.1 billion to the Chinese company.
The Nigerian Minister of Transport announced last September that his government had formally approved the project and decided to conclude contracts with the Chinese company, and confirmed that the project would cost about three billion dollars. |
