The Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday dismissed an application by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Dele Belgore, challenging the money laundering charges pressed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
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The EFCC had on February 8, 2017 arraigned Belgore for allegedly collecting N450m out the $115m allegedly doled out by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, to compromise the 2015 general elections.
The EFCC claimed that Belgore, a former governorship aspirant in Kwara State, handled the money in cash without going through any financial institution, an act said be a violation of the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.
Belgore was arraigned alongside a former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Suleiman, on five counts before Justice Rilwan Aikawa.
At the June 8 proceedings in the case, Belgore, through his lawyer, Mr. Ebun Shofunde (SAN), had filed an application challenging the competence of the charges and urging the judge to quash the charges and set him free.
Shofunde contended that the EFCC failed to attach an affidavit showing that it had concluded investigation in the case before bringing the case to court.
He contended that the EFCC’s failure to file the affidavit was a fundamental breach of the Federal High Court Practice Direction and which had rendered the charges incompetent.
He urged Justice Aikawa to quash the charges and free his client.
But in opposition, the EFCC lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, argued that the current law governing criminal cases in the country, was the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.
He argued that the ACJA did not list filing of the said affidavit as one of the conditions that must be fulfilled before a case was brought to court, stressing that the provisions of the ACJA were superior to that of the Federal High Court Practice Direction.
Besides, the referred Justice Aikawa to Section 221 of the EFCC which barred a judge from entertaining any objection to criminal charges.
He urged the judge to dismiss Belgore’s application and allow the EFCC to proceed with trial.
In his ruling on Friday, the judge dismissed Belgore’s application, upholding the EFCC’s argument that the failure to file an affidavit of investigation could not affect the substance of the charges.
Justice Aikawa held, “I am in total agreement with the prosecution that this a court of summary trial where criminal charges are not filed by a way of information but by summary statement of witnesses as it is in this instance. The prosecution has substantially complied with the provisions of Section 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.”
However, the judge later granted applications by both Belgore and Sulaiman seeking the release of their passports to enable them to travel abroad for medical treatment.
The court granted the defendants’ requests to travel to the United Kingdom and India respectively between July 15 and August 8, 2017 to attend to their health.
The defendants were instructed to promptly return their passports to the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar upon their return to the country.
Further proceedings in the case were adjourned till October 3, 2017.
In the charges, Sulaiman, a professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Abuja, and Belgore, a former governorship aspirant in Kwara State, were accused of conspiring between themselves to commit the offence on March 27, 2015.
The duo were accused of making a cash transaction of N450m on March 27, 2015, without going through any financial institution.
But they pleaded not guilty to the charges.
