The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday arraigned a Chinese national, Liu Beixiang, also known as Lao Liu, before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos, over an allegation of providing false information to a government official.
Liu is facing a one-count charge bordering on deliberately supplying false information to an officer of the EFCC during the course of official duty.
EFCC told the court that Liu, sometime in December 2024 in Lagos, gave information that he knew to be false to an officer of the Federal Government of Nigeria in the discharge of his duties.
The defendant pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him.
According to the charge, the offence committed is punishable under Section 16 (1) of the EFCC Act, 2004.
Following his plea, prosecution counsel, Babatunde Sonoiki, asked for a trial date and urged the court to remand Liu in a correctional facility pending the commencement of trial.
However, Liu’s counsel, F.A. Dalmeda, informed the court that an application for a plea bargain had already been submitted to the EFCC.
He also revealed that a motion for bail had been filed and that the anti-graft agency had responded earlier in the day.
“We filed an application for a plea bargain, and we have also filed a motion for bail, which the EFCC responded to this morning,” Dalmeda said.
“We need a date for us to report on the plea bargain,” he said.
Justice Faji subsequently adjourned the matter until June 23, 2025, for a report on the plea bargain and ordered that the defendant be remanded in a correctional centre.
