By Soni Daniel, Abuja
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, last night rejected accusation that he was in contempt of court for not freeing an Australian businessman, Wolfgang Reini, who is being detained in connection with investigation into the $2.1 billion arms cash.

The commission said in a statement made available to Vanguard that it had not done anything wrong by appealing against the court order freeing Renei since investigation into the arms cash was ongoing.

It said,”The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to media reports on May 12, 2016 accusing its chairman, Ibrahim Magu of refusing to obey an order of court in the fundamental right enforcement action brought against the Commission by an Austrian businessman, Wolfgang Reini, who is being investigated for his role in the now infamous $2.1 billion arms deal scandal.

“Contrary to the insinuations in the media, there is no disobedience to any court order by the EFCC and its chairman as the commission had since May 9, 2016 filed a notice of appeal at the appellate court challenging the April 20, 2016 ruling by Justice Peter Affen of the Federal Capital Territory High Court.

“The appeal thus nullifies any claim of contempt. It is trite law that judgement cannot be enforced in the face of an appeal.

“In the Nigerian legal system, an appellant has 90 days to appeal a judgement it deems inappropriate and wrong. That window is still open to the EFCC,” EFCC Spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said.