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Former Nigerian defense chief prisoned over corruption scandal

Xinhua, March 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Nigeria's immediate past defense chief Alex Badeh was on Monday sent to prison, following allegations of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption leveled against him.

A 10-count charge was slammed on him by Nigeria's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which arrested him almost three weeks ago.

Anti-graft authorities further accused the ex-official of diverting the sum of 19.5 million U.S. dollars meant for the purchase of arms for the Nigerian military into his personal account while serving as the defense chief.

Badeh pleaded not guilty to all the charges but a federal high court sitting in the nation's capital Abuja on Monday struck out his application for bail and ordered that the former defense chief and retired senior air force officer be remanded in prison.

Since taking office in May 2015, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari launched a crackdown on endemic graft.

The African country has been investigating the fraud suspected in the arms procurement fund of more than 2 billion USD, which was allegedly diverted into accounts of individuals instead of what it was meant for. Endit