Nigeria, June 6 -- Federal High Court in Lagos, Akintayo Aluko, has withdrawn from a $42.5 million rice import fraud trial.

This followed a petition accusing him of misconduct and bias.

The judge gave his ruling on 24 May declaring his withdrawal from the trial.

The certified true copy of the ruling was shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday.

In the case marked FHC/L/562C/22, The federal government, through the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Federal Ministry of Justice, charged five defendants with fraud

They are Prem Garg, Devashish Garg, Marcus Wade, Agrico Agbe Limited and Wilben Trade Limited (Dubai).

All the defendants were absent from the 25 May proceedings, but three of them were represented by their lawyer Princ...