Forgery: Court refuses Lebanese contractor medical treatment abroad

An Abuja High Court sitting in Maitama, yesterday, refused to allow a 27-year-old Lebanese contractor, Mohammed Jihad Ghraizi, who allegedly forged several sensitive documents belonging to the Federal Ministry of Interior, to travel abroad for medical treatment.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had alleged that Ghraizi connived with his father, Mohammed Jihad, and used forged documents from the Ministry of Interior to fraudulently secure 60% shares of one Madeni Construction Company Limited, contrary to sections 97, 363 and 364 of the Penal Code Cap 532 (LFN, Abuja) 1990.

The anti-graft agency, which preferred a 14-count criminal charge against the duo, maintained that the alleged crime was perfected between December 1999 and June 2008.

Though their trial commenced since June 2010, Ghraizi, who is the 2nd accused person in the matter, on May 11, came to court in a wheel chair, just as his counsel, Chief S.I. Ameh, SAN, pleaded the presiding judge in the case, Justice Sadiq Umar, to order a release of his international passports to enable him travel to Lebanon for proper medical attention.

Ameh told the High Court that the accused person sustained grievous bodily injuries after he was viciously stabbed in the abdominal region by unknown assailants that attacked him in his residence in Abuja.