The Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property (SPIPRPP) yesterday accused Senator Hope Uzodinma of jumping the bail it granted him on Sunday after his arrest.
Uzodinma, a Senator representing Orlu Zone, Imo State and the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was arrested by SPIPRPP on Sunday night at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on his way from Lagos, aboard an Air Peace flight.
The panel said Uzodinma is being investigated over his company’s alleged failure to execute a contract of $12 million for the dredging of Calabar channel awarded by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA).
On Monday, SPIPRPP said it released Uzodinma on bail on health ground, to enable him meet with his doctor, and that he pledged to return for interrogation.
The SPIPRPP, in a statement last night said Uzodinma had refused to turn up for interrogation as agreed.
It said, instead, his lawyer chose to serve court processes on the panel.
The statement reads: “He is on the run. He called to say he will report at 11am today (Thursday), but he never kept to his words.
“This afternoon the panel was served with a bundle of documents from his lawyers and a letter claiming that he had filed a suit concerning the contract to dredge Calabar channel so we should not investigate the case. But that is balderdash.
“The law is that a suspect cannot stop a criminal investigation by running to a court to file an action. In any case the NPA matter is not the only thing we have against him.”
Uzodinma is also linked with other cases, including a case over his alleged failure to disclose his assets, as reflected in a two count charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/107/2018, now pending before Justice Babatunde Quadri of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The Senator and his firms are equally involved in a pending criminal case before the Upper Area Court, Arab Road, Kubwa, Abuja.
The case was initiated via a criminal complaint filed by a company, Chimex Ventures Ltd and its promoter Chima Akuzie, who claimed that the Senator issued them a N200 million UBA dud (bounced cheque).