Ize- Iyamu appears in court today over alleged N700m fraud

THE All Progressives Congress ( APC) candidate in the September 19,2020 governorship election in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize- Iyamu, is to appear in court today in a case preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC).

He is being tried on an eight- count charge of money laundering to the tune of N700 million reportedly deployed to prosecute the 2015 general elections.

Ize- Iyamu, who recently defected to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), is standing trial alongside four others before Justice J. M. Umar of the Federal High Court, Benin City.

The anti- graft agency, in the suit marked FHC/ BE21C/ 2016, said the gubernatorial hopeful and the other accused allegedly collected the public funds for the polls, contrary to the provisions of the EFCC Act and the Money Laundering ( Prohibition) Act.

A group, Concerned Citizens of Edo State, had last week charged youths in the state to meticulously follow the trial, saying: “We call on Edo youths to be aware that Pastor Ize- Iyamu would be standing trial for a N700 million money laundering case preferred against him and four others by the EFCC. The case comes up in court on July 2, 2020.”