By Ayo Yusuf
In another twist to the N5bn fraud case brought against a former Minister of Aviation, Senator Stella Oduah, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to hand over the case to the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, for diligent prosecution.
The presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, gave the order after Oduah and the other defendants pleaded not guilty to the 25 counts charge brought against them by the EFCC.
Senator Oduah who served as Aviation Minister from 2011 to 2014, allegedly laundered public funds to the tune of about N5 billion, in connivance with eight others.
But the court on Friday ordered the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to take over the prosecution of Oduah, her ex-aide, Gloria Odita, and seven others charged with them for laundering money.
Justice Ekwo said the controversy surrounding the prosecution of the case informed the decision to direct the AGF to take over the case.
He ordered the EFCC to transfer the case file to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to ensure diligent prosecution of the defendants.
Charged alongside Ms. Oduah and Ms. Odita, in the 25-count charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/316/2020 are Nwosu Emmanuel Nnamdi, Chukwuma Irene Chinyere, Global Offshore and Marine Ltd, Tip Top Global Resources Ltd, Crystal Television Ltd, Sobora International Ltd and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Nigeria Ltd.
The anti-graft agency, among other things, alleged that Oduah, who also represented Anambra North in the Senate and Odita, who was identified as her aid and the Company Secretary to Sea Petroleum & Gas Company Ltd (SPGC), had in February 2014, used their positions to transfer the sum of N1,629,250,000.00 from I-Sec Security Nig. Ltd account No. 2021756955 with First Bank Plc, to Global Offshore and Marine Ltd account No. 2022977296 also domiciled with First Bank Plc, which money they reasonably ought to have known formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act.
The defendants were accused of opening a naira “anonymous Private Banking Nominee Account No. 2024414450 with First Bank Plc and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 11(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (As Amended) and punishable under Section 11(4) (a) of the same Act.”
They were equally accused of opening a United State dollar “anonymous Private Banking Nominee account No.
2024414498 with First Bank Plc and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 11(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (As Amended) and punishable under Section 1 1(4) (a) of the same Act.”
Following the defendants’ plea of innocence to all the allegations, trial Justice Ekwo allowed them to go home on the administrative bail the EFCC earlier granted to them while adjourning the case to October 17 for trial.
Twists and Turns
The decision by the presiding judge to direct the AGF to handle the case was not unconnected with the various controversies that have attended the prosecution of Senator Oduah.
Although the charge against her was filed as far back as 2020, the EFCC was unable to arraign the defendants owing to a petition her lawyers wrote to the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN.
Mr. Malami had then urged the court to put the trial on hold to enable him to review the case file.
Nearly three years later after the EFCC finally got the nod to go ahead with trial of the defendants, another controversy reared its head in the form of a Superintendent of Police, Ibrahim Mohammed who filed forgery charges against Ms Oduah in the name of the EFCC.
The eight counts he filed against the ex-minister bordered on forgery of National Youth Service Corps certificate but then the judge began to ask questions after noticing some flaws in the court process.
Justice Omotoso of the Federal High Court Abuja queried the lawyer, asking if he had the mandate of the EFCC to file the charges.
Mr. Mohammed who was largely incoherent while answering questions, admitted that he errorneously filed the charges in the name of the EFCC.
Subsequently, the anti-graft agency disowned the police prosecutor saying he was not mandated to file any criminal charge against Ms Oduah or prosecute her in any criminal matter. Counsel for the EFCC, Helen Okonofun, told the Court that although Mr. Mohammed was initially with the EFCC but he was redeployed from the agency to the police headquarters on November 4, 2022 and had nothing to do with the EFCC since then.
In a dramatic twist Justice Omotosho handed over the police lawyer, Mr. Mohammed to the EFCC for investigation for filing an eight-count criminal charge against Senator Oduah without the authority of the anti-graft agency.
