Court adjourns ex-Lagos Speaker, Ikuforiji money laundering trial

A Federal High Court in Lagos State on Monday deferred the trial of a former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, over for alleged N338.8 million money laundering.

The case, which had been scheduled for trial continuation on November 15, was unable to progress because Justice Mohammed Liman, who was sitting in on a fiat, did not show up for court.

Despite having been moved out of the Lagos section, Justice Liman returns to oversee the case after a fiat. November 20 was set as the new date for the case.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has indicted Ikuforiji together with Oyebode Atoyebi, his former personal assistant.

They are facing 54 counts of allegations that are somewhat related to

When they were first charged in 2012, they were each granted an early bail, which allowed them to continue on their plea of not guilty.

Once the prosecution’s second witness was called, the EFCC ended its case on March 17, 2021.

There were two witnesses summoned by the prosecution to bolster its case.

Subsequently, Justice Liman was moved out of the Lagos division, and the case encountered other obstacles.

Mr. Dele Adesina, SAN, the defense attorney, commenced the defense case and started calling witnesses on May 4.

Three witnesses, including the first defendant (Ikuforiji), were called by the defense. Mr. Ikuforiji had testified, among other things, about how he was being charged based on an anonymous petition.

He informed the judge that the current case started with a written petition from an unidentified party who claimed to have stolen over N7 billion from the Lagos House of Assembly. As a result, the adoption of written addresses was set as the next step. The next court date for this matter is November 20.

On March 1, 2012, the defendants were initially arraigned before Justice Okechukwu Okeke on a 20-count charge that included allegations of money laundering and misappropriation. After entering not guilty pleas to the allegations, they were each given bail.

However, once the case was reassigned, the defendants were subsequently re-arrested before Justice Ibrahim Buba.

Mr. Buba had given them bail of N500 million apiece, along with sureties in the form of sun

On September 26, 2014, Justice Buba dismissed the accusations against Ikuforiji and his assistant, upholding the defendants’ no case motion. According to Mr. Buba, the EFCC was unable to prove a prima-facie case against them.

Dissatisfied with the verdict, the EFCC filed a Notice of Appeal on September 30, 2014, contesting the trial court’s decision, through its attorney, Godwin Obla, SAN.

Mr. Obla maintained that the counts were filed under Section 1(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004—a provision that was later repealed by an Act of 2011—and that the trial court erred in law when it determined that the counts were incompetent.

The EFCC further contended that the trial court made a legal error in concluding that the terms of Section

The commission further claimed that the trial judge had made a legal error in holding and concluding that the prosecution witnesses’ testimony proved the respondents’ innocence.

In November 2016, the Lagos Division of the Appeal Court upheld the prosecution’s position and mandated that the defendants face a new trial before a different judge.

After the Appeal Court’s ruling, the defendants went to the Supreme Court in an attempt to reverse the Appellate Court’s verdict.

The Supreme Court once more affirmed the appeal court’s ruling in its ruling and mandated that the matter be remanded to the Federal High Court Chief Judge for reassignment to a different judge.

The charge against the defendants stated that the EFCC claimed that they took cash payments beyond the Money Laundering Act’s threshold without going thru a banking institution.

The commission charged the defendants with planning to take N338.8 million in cash payments directly from the House of Assembly without first going through a financial institution, which is a prohibited act.

Additionally, Mr. Ikuforiji was charged with misappropriating Assembly funds by taking advantage of his position.

The defendants allegedly committed the offenses between April 2010 and July 2011, according to the EFCC.

The EFCC claims that the offenses violate Sections 15 (1d), 16(1d), and 18 of the Money Laundering Acts of 2004 and 2011.

 (NAN)