The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday discharged and acquitted Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, other companies, and AA Oil Chairman Aliyu Abubakar in two separate alleged money laundering suits filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Inyang Ekwo discharged and acquitted the defendants, holding that the prosecution’s evidence and charges were “fundamentally flawed,” had not been “proven beyond reasonable doubt,” and were contrary to a previous directive from the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
Nairametrics previously reported on the seven-year-old money laundering suit instituted by the EFCC against former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke.
Nairametrics recalls that Adoke and AA Oil Chairman Aliyu Abubakar were arraigned before the court on an amended 14-count charge bordering on money laundering in suit number FHC/ABJ/CR/31/17.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the trial commenced, eventually leading to Adoke’s discharge.
However, the court had found that the prosecution established a prima facie case against the second defendant, Abubakar, on Counts 5, 6, 8 and 9. Consequently, his no-case submission in respect of those counts was dismissed.
In a related case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/268/16, the EFCC charged Malabu, A-Group Construction Company Limited, Rocky Top Resources Limited, Mega Tech Engineering Limited, Novel Properties and Development Company Limited, Carlin International Nigeria Limited, and Aliyu, among others, with money laundering and conspiracy.
EFCC evidence against Aliyu flawed
In his judgment in the EFCC’s case against Aliyu as the sole defendant, Justice Ekwo held that the prosecution witness’s testimony was legally insufficient because of the absence of original documents linking Aliyu to the alleged offence.
The court observed that, during the forensic analysis of specimen signatures linked to the businessman, the prosecution witness admitted to analysing photocopies rather than original documents.
- “I find that the evidence of PW9 is fundamentally flawed,” the judge held.
The judge concluded that the prosecution had failed to discharge the burden of proof in respect of the allegations against Aliyu.
Consequently, he ordered the discharge and acquittal of the defendant.
Acting against AGF directive a grave error
In the other case involving Malabu and the other defendants, the judge noted that the defendants challenged the court’s jurisdiction, questioning the validity of the charges on the grounds that they had been filed contrary to the directive and advice of the AGF at the time.
After reviewing the AGF’s letter, Ekwo said that, contrary to the prosecution’s submission, the letter directed the prosecution to reconsider the charges because there was nothing linking the defendants to the alleged offences.
The judge observed that the EFCC received the letter in September 2018, but the prosecution proceeded to file charges against the defendants in December of the same year.
Ekwo held that where the court receives advice or a directive from the AGF, it can terminate the proceedings.
- “The power of the AGF over any prosecution is final when it is issued,” the court held, adding that the prosecution committed a grave error by continuing the proceedings despite the AGF’s advice.
- “No prosecuting agency is higher in law than the AGF,” Ekwo held.
Furthermore, the court observed that evidence obtained while a suit is pending is “inadmissible in law”, likening the practice to filing a charge and subsequently searching for evidence to sustain it.
The judge also held that he could not make any pronouncement against the persons who were at large because no issue relating to trial in absentia was raised during the proceedings, and those individuals had not stood trial before him.
The judge subsequently discharged the eighth defendants in the case.
Background to the Malabu oil block case
The trial judge had ordered the trial of Aliyu Abubakar after discharging Adoke.
In the other suit, the eight defendants were accused of money laundering and conspiracy in a 48-count charge relating to their alleged fraudulent dealings involving the controversial oil block, OPL 245.
The EFCC alleged that approximately $1 billion and N673 million were involved in the alleged money laundering offences, according to The Nation.
- In one count of the charge, the EFCC claimed that “Malabu Oil, and two of its directors (said to be on the run – Seidougha Munamuna and a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dauzia Etete, who is widely known as Dan Etete) – ‘directly or indirectly converted’ the sum of $401,540,000 paid from the Federal Government of Nigeria Escrow Account with JP Morgan Chase Bank in London into Malabu Oil’s account with First Bank of Nigeria Limited.”
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Key facts about Mohammed Bello Adoke
Adoke was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation on April 6, 2010.
He was initially arraigned alongside Aliyu Abubakar before Justice Binta Nyako and was subsequently re-arraigned before Justice Ekwo on June 17, 2020, on the same charges.