Court Adjourns Alleged N1.4bn Laundering Case Against Usoro, Others.

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State has adjourned till
April 17 to hear three pending applications in the N1.4bn money
laundering charge against the President of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA), Mr Paul Usoro.

In one of the applications, brought pursuant to Section 36(6)(b)
& (d) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 379(1) of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), Mr Usoro, through
his counsel, Ifedayo Adedipe is seeking for an order of the court,
directing the EFCC to serve on him a summarised witness statement
of evidence of those listed to give evidence in the matter.

In the proof of evidence, the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) had listed five Senior Advocates of Nigeria
(SANs), among others, to testify in the matter.

The other application was brought by the Attorney General and
Commissioner for Justice of Akwa Ibom State, Uwemedimo Nwoko, and
three others.

The others are the Commissioner for Finance in the state, Nsikan
Nkan; the Accountant General, Mfon Udomah; and a cashier of the
state government, Margaret Ukpe.

The application filed by Mike Ozekhome (SAN) on their behalf is
asking the court to set aside the bench warrant issued against
them.

At the last adjourned date of March 1, Justice Rilwan Aikawa
granted the bench warrant at the instance of the EFCC who told the
court that the government officials were at large and the warrant
was necessary to ensure their presence in court.

The four government officials are charged alongside Mr Usoro on
10 counts of conspiracy and conversion of an alleged N1.4bn said to
be property of the Akwa Ibom State government.

The third application was brought by the Governor of Akwa Ibom
State, Emmanuel Udom, who currently enjoys constitutional immunity
from prosecution.

The application was filed on his behalf by his counsel, Dr
Charles Mekwunye, to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to
proceed with the charge.

In count one, the EFCC alleged that, Paul Usoro, Governor
Emmanuel, and the other defendants all conspired to convert the sum
of N1.4bn.

They were alleged to have committed the offence in 2016.

The EFCC said the defendants all reasonably ought to have known
that the sums formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful
activity.