From Joy Ekeke, Lagos 

The Federal high court sitting in Lagos, has adjourned the re-trial of former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, and his aide, Oyebode Atoyebi, till  December 9, for continuation of cross examination.

The former speaker’s re-trial resumed on Wednesday, over allegations of laundering N338.

Counsel to The Economic & Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ekene Iheanacho continued with the testimony of the first prosecution witness, Mr Adebayo Adeniyi an investigative officer with the Commission.

The witness told the court that some cash account registers of some banks which had been admitted in exhibit were recovered from the Lagos State House of Assembly.

According to him, they showed that the second defendant, Oyebode Atoyebi, collected money several times, above the financial threshold allowed by the Money Laundering Act.

Under cross examination, by the defense counsel, Dele Adesina (SAN), the witness told the court that the former speaker did not collect the cash directly from the Treasury Department of the house, but had admitted during investigation that all the money collected by Oyebode was done on his behalf and with his approval.

At the instance of the defense counsel, Justice Mohammed Liman adjourned till 9 December for continuation of cross examination.
The retrial of the former Speaker and his aide commenced on the 30th of Sept, 2020. At that arraignment, they both pleaded not guilty to the allegations of laundering about N338m.

Justice Mohammed Liman then allowed both men to continue on an earlier bail granted to them in 2012 when they were first arraigned.
The defendants were first arraigned on March 1, 2012 before Justice Okechukwu Okeke on a 20 count bordering on misappropriation and money laundering.

They had each pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail.
Following a re-assignment of the case, the defendants were, subsequently re-arraigned before Justice Ibrahim Buba.

Justice Buba granted them bail in the sum of N500 million each with sureties in like sum.

On Sept. 26, 2014, Justice Buba discharged the defendants after upholding their “no case submission applications”.

The judge 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 a 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.

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 the Government.

The commission had 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 judgment, the Lagos Division of the Appeal Court, in November 2016, agreed with the EFCC and ordered a fresh trial of 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 Appellate court.

In its verdict, in December 2017, the apex court 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.

This necessitated the current re-arraignment and re trial before Justice Liman.

In 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 commission also accused the defendants of conspiring to commit an illegal act of accepting cash payments in the aggregate 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 defendants committed the offences between April 2010 and July 2011.

The offences, according to the EFCC, contravenes the provisions of Sections 15 (1d), 16(1d) and 18 of Money Laundering Act, 2004 and 2011.