Alex Enumah in Abuja
Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday discharged and acquitted an Abuja-based businessman, Aliyu Abubakar and seven others from the money-laundering, criminal misappropriation, forgery and other charges in relation to the management of Malabo Oil and Gas Limited’s funds.
Justice Ekwo in two separate judgments held the prosecution, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was unable to prove its case in the two different charges against the defendants.
In the first judgment marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/268/2016 in which Abubakar was tried with Malabu Oil and six other companies, the court held the prosecution was wrong to have proceeded to prosecute the defendants based on the charge after the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) issued a letter in 2018 directing that the defendants should not be prosecuted because there was not sufficient evidence to warrant that.
In the second judgment marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/31/2017, the court also held the allegations were not proved against Abubakar who was the sole defendant.
Although a former AGF, Mohammed Adoke, was initially included in the charge, Adoke was however freed after the court upheld his no-case submission in a ruling delivered on April 19, 2024.