Alleged $9.5m FIFA grant: Pinnick, Sanusi to appear in court Dec. 16

A Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja on Tuesday fixed December 16 for the Office of The Attorney General of the Federation to report the harmonisation of the cases against some Nigerian Football Federation officials in the alleged misappropriation of $9.5m FIFA grant.

Justice Peter Affen had earlier fixed Oct 22 for ruling on the application filed by the EFCC, to join the NFF president, Amaju Pinnick and secretary-general, Mohammed Sanusi.

EFCC dragged three officials of the federation before the court in an alleged $9.5m FIFA grant misappropriation before applying on April 30 to join both Pinnick and Sanusi in the matter as co-defendants.

Those being tried earlier were Christopher Andekin, NFF Director of Administration and Finance, Reagan Zaka, Cashier and the Head of Finance and Account Department Fadanari Mamza.

The EFCC charged the defendants with five counts bordering on criminal conspiracy, breach of trust and misappropriation.

The EFCC alleged that they conspired between January 8 and 26, 2015 to commit the offence, contrary to Section 97 of Penal Code.

Andekin was alleged to have been entrusted with money meant for the development of football in Nigeria, a grant from world football body, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA).

He was alleged to have fraudulently diverted $1.3m from the NFF domiciliary account with Zenith Bank, an act that is contrary to Section 311 of the Penal Code.

Zaka, on his part, was said to have fraudulently diverted $7.2m from the FIFA grant, while Mamza was alleged of diverting $2.3m. The defendants all pleaded not guilty to the charge.