Justice Esther Ikponmwen of a High Court in Benin, on Thursday, issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Philip Shaibu, a Federal Lawmaker representing Etsako Federal Constituency in the National Assembly over his absence from court.
THE WILL gathered that the federal lawmaker was facing a six-count charge instituted against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over alleged forgery of tax document.
The APC lawmaker was alleged to have committed the offence in 2006, while contesting for the Etsako Constituency II seat in the Edo State House of Assembly.
The accused allegedly lied to officers of the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue that he was an employee of a certain Zaknote Nigeria Ventures Limited from 2003 to 2006, in order to fraudulently obtain a tax clearance certificate from the revenue board.
At the resumed hearing yesterday, counsel to ICPC, G. O Igbadumhe, in his application, urged the court to issue warrant of arrest for the accused for his failure to appear in court.
In granting the application, Ikponmwen ordered that the accused be produced in court by the authorities of Nigeria Police in the next sitting day. She however adjourned the case to Thursday, next week.
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