EFCC Re-arraigns Adoke by
EFCC Re-arraigns Adoke by Amending Charges
The Abuja Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 re-arraigned former
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mohamed
Bello Adoke and Aliyu Abubakar before Justice I.E. Ekwo of the
Federal High Court, Abuja, on a 14-count amended charge of money
laundering to the tune of over Six Million United States Dollars
($6,000,000).
Count one of the new charges against Adoke read: “That you
Mohammed Bello Adoke, sometime in September 2013, in Abuja, within
the jurisdiction of this honourable court, made a cash payment of
the sum of $2,267,400.00 (Two Million, Two Hundred and Sixty-Seven
Thousand, Four Hundred United States Dollars) to one Rislaundeen
Muhammed, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to the
combined effects of Section 16(1) (d) and of Section 1(a) of the
Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011(as amended) and punishable
under Section 16(2)(b) of the same Act.”
A new charge against Abubakar read. “That you Aliyu Abubakar,
sometime in September 2013, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of
this honourable court, accepted a cash payment of the sum of
$4,000,000.00 (Four Million United States Dollars) from Farmans
Holdings Limited, through Abdulhakeem Uthman Mustapha, and you
thereby committed an offence contrary to the combined effects of
Section 16(1)(d) and of Section1(a) of the Money Laundering
Prohibition Act 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section
16(2)(b) of the same Act.”
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges, following
which counsel to the second defendant, Akin Olujimi, SAN, made an
oral application, challenging the jurisdiction of the
court to sit on the case while courts in the country are on
vacation.
Justice Ekwo in response advised the counsel to make his
application formal so that he could rule on it. While reminding
Olujimi that he could exercise his discretion as it pleased him in
his court, he warned that a consequence of his application may be
the revocation of the bail of his client.
Olujimi, for the interest of his client’s
liberty, beat a hasty retreat and withdrew the oral
application.
The judge adjourned the case till August 11, 12 and 13, 2020 for
commencement of trial.
It will be recalled that the defendants were arraigned on a
seven-count charge before Justice Binta Nyako, on March 1, 2020,
re-arraigned on June 17, 2020 on the same number of charges before
Justice Ekwo and re-arraigned again, August 4, 2020 on
14-count charge before the same judge.
Dele Oyewale,
Head, Media & Publicity
04/8/2020