ABUJA, March 26, (THWILL) - The eagerly anticipated trial of three suspects accused of complicity in the $180 million Halliburton bribery scandal was brought to an abrupt end on Monday, when Justice Abubakar Umar of the Abuja High Court dismissed the case in protest of failure of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arraign the suspects despite filing a nine-count charge against them.

Justice Umar lambasted the EFCC, saying he could no longer condone its indifferent attitude to the prosecution of accused persons, and warning it to desist from the practice of obtaining leave of court to arraign suspects without ensuring its preparedness to proceed with the trial.

The three persons standing trial Are Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu, former permanent secretary in the Office of the Head of Service; Abdullahi Bello, a retired Air vice Marshal; and Mohammed Bakari of Urban Shelter Limited .

Counsel to the EFCC, Ms Kauna Pindam had, for the umpteenth time, prayed the court to Grant the Commission another adjournment to enable it arraign the accused persons.

But Umar refused; reminding Ms. Pindam of a similar order he gave on January 23, 2012, allowing EFCC more time to arraign the three suspects unfailingly by March 26.

“I will not Grant any more adjournment. Remember I gave an order on January 23 that the March 26 date would be the last time the court would give the EFCC chance to arraign the suspects. I gave the Long adjournment to allow the EFCC to interface with its US sister agency in utilising Security Information you said you got,” he said.

“I warned the EFCC that upon its failure to arraign the accused today, I will strike Out the case and write to the Minister of Justice to lodge a complaint about the attitude of the commission. I remember I also warned the EFCC and the accused counsel to adhere to the specific details of the order or suffer certain penalties for not following the instructions.”

He noted that since February 17, 2011, when he granted leave to the prosecution to commence arraignment of the accused, no step has been taken.

“It has been over a year now and still the EFCC is coming up with excuses. The EFCC should know that if it is not ready to prosecute and bring cases to conclusion, it should not apply for leave of court to arraign anybody,” he warned.

“The EFCC should know that I am answerable to the National Judicial council and what will I say is the reason why this case has been at arraignment stage for the past one year? I therefore strike Out the suit for want of diligent prosecution.”