Nigerian Supreme Court has upheld a Court of Appeal decision which set aside the ruling of a Lagos Division of the Federal High Court that cleared former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, and Oyebode Atoyebi, of money laundering charges.
In a ruling delivered by Inyang Okoro, a judge, the apex court held that that appellate court was right in declaring that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had established a prima facie case against Mr. Atoyebi, an aide to Ikuforiji.
Meanhile, the apex court will deliver a separate ruling on Ikuforiji’s application on January 15, Premium Times has learnt.
The Lagos Division of the Appeal Court had in November 2016 also ordered that a fresh trial be commenced before another judge other than Ibrahim Buba, the Federal High Court judge who had handled the case.
Justice Buba had on September 26, 2014, discharged Messrs. Ikuforiji and Atoyebi of a 54-amended count charge of conspiracy and laundering the sum of N500 million belonging to the assembly.
The EFCC said the cash payments were above the threshold set by the Money Laundering Act without going through a financial institution.
The offences, according to the EFCC, contravenes the provisions of Sections 15 (1d) and 16(1d) of Money Laundry Act, MLA, 2004 and 2011.
The trial judge, who discharged the Speaker and Atoyebi, while ruling on a no-case submission filed by the accused persons, held that the EFCC failed to establish a prima-facie case against them.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the EFCC through its counsel, Godwin Obla, filed the notice of appeal dated September 30, 2014.
Obla asked the Court of Appeal to hold that Justice Buba erred in law when he held that counts two to 48 were incompetent because they were filed pursuant to Section 1(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004 which was repealed by an Act in 2011.
The 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 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.
Following the decision of the Appeal Court against them, Messrs Ikuforiji and Atoyebi headed to the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the ruling. (Thisday)