A Federal High Court in Abuja has discharged and acquitted Ishaq Kawu Modibbo, the former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), who faced allegations of complicity in a purported ₦2.5 billion fraud.

Justice Folashade Ogunbanjo-Giwa, presiding over the case, ruled on Thursday that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) failed to substantiate its claims against the defendants.

The court noted inconsistencies in the testimony of witnesses and concluded that the ICPC could not establish a direct link between Modibbo and the alleged offences.

Thus, he was discharged of the five-count allegations brought against him alongside Pinnacle Communications Ltd, and Dipo Onifade.

One of the defendants earlier charged in the matter, who was chairman of Pinnacle, Lucky Omoluwa died in February 2020 while the matter was still on.

ICPC had alleged that Kawu deceived the former Minister of Information and Culture to approve the payment of N2.5billion to Pinnacle Communications Limited, a private company owned by his friend, Omoluwa.

According to the ICPC, Omoluwa, whose firm was not qualified for such a grant, subsequently transferred the sum of N537.25 million out of the N2.5bn to a Bureau De Change operator for the dollar equivalent.

The BDC operator was said to have delivered the dollars in cash to Omoluwa at his residence in Kaduna.