A Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday, fixed Dec. 11, for
re-arraignment of a former Speaker of the Lagos State House of
Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji over alleged N338.8 million Money
laundering charges.
Ikuforiji is charged alongside his former aide, Oyebode
Atoyebi.
The defendants were first arraigned on March 1, 2012 before
Justice Okechukwu Okeke, on a 20-count charge, bordering on
misappropriation and money laundering.
They had pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted
bails.
The defendants were however, subsequently re-arraigned before
Justice Ibrahim Buba, following a re-assignment of the case.
On Sept. 26, 2014, Justice Buba, discharged Ikuforiji and his
aide of the charges, after upholding a no case submission of the
defendants
Buba had held that the EFCC failed to establish a prima-facie
case against them.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the EFCC through its counsel, Mr
Godwin Obla (SAN), filed the Notice of Appeal dated Sept. 30, 2014
challenging the decision of the trial court.
Obla had argued that the trial court erred in law when it held
that the counts were incompetent because they were filed under
Section 1(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004 which
was repealed by an Act of 2011.
EFCC further argued that the lower court erred in law when it
held that the provisions of Section 1 of the Money Laundering
(Prohibition) Act, 2004 and 2011, only applied to natural persons
and corporate bodies other than the Government.
The Commission also submitted that the trial judge erred in law
when he held and concluded that the testimonies of the prosecution
witnesses supported the innocence of the respondents.
In its judgement, the Lagos Division of the Appeal Court in
November 2016, agreed with the prosecution and ordered that a fresh
trial be commenced against the defendants, before another
judge.
Following the decision of the Appeal Court, the defendants
headed to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the ruling of the
Appeallate court.
Again, in its verdict, the apex court also upheld the decision
of the appellate court and ordered that the case be sent back to
the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to
another judge .
The trial is now to begin de novo (afresh) before a new judge,
Justice Mohammed Liman.
When the case was called on Wednesday, Mr Tunde Akinrimisi
appeared for the defendants and informed the court that he was only
served with hearing notices in suit, but was not sure if the
defendants had been served .
He urged the court to grant an adjournment to enable the
defendants come in and defend the charge.
In response, the prosecutor Mr Rotimi Oyedepo said that although
he would grudgingly accept the request for adjournment, it must be
noted that the charge was not new to the defendants.
He urged the court not to allow any delay whatsoever in the case
which is to commence afresh.
Justice Liman has consequently fixed Dec. 11 for re-arraignment
of the defendants.
According to the charge, the EFCC alleged that the defendants
accepted cash payments above the threshold set by the Money
Laundering Act, without going through a financial institution.
The EFCC accused the defendants of conspiring to commit an
illegal act of accepting cash payments in the sum of N338.8 million
from the House of Assembly without going through a financial
institution.
Ikuforiji was also accused of using his position to
misappropriate funds belonging to the Assembly.
The EFCC said that the accused committed the offences between
April 2010 and July 2011.
The offenses, according to the EFCC, contravenes the provisions
of Sections 15 (1d), 16(1d) and 18 of Money Laundry Act, 2004 and
2011