Jan.19, 2010 00:00

Akingbola loses bid to stop EFCC

Justice Tijani Abubakar of the Federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday dismissed the interlocutory application brought before him by the former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, to stay proceedings in the case of corruption and money laundering levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Similarly, an application by the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Dr. Erastus Akingbola, to stop the anti-graft agency from seizing and freezing his assets suffered the same fate before Justice  Abubakar who rejected the request.

The former governor had filed an application at the  court, challenging the decision of the High Court to allow EFCC file 80 amended charges against him while he returned to the lower court to ask for a stay of proceedings, pending the determination of his appeal.

But in his ruling, Justice Abubakar said that Section 40 of the EFCC Act 2004 does not allow any court to grant stay of proceedings application in cases filed by the anti-graft agency.

He went further that the defendant was just trying to use delay tactics in the trial. He therefore ordered that the new charges be read to the accused person and his plea taken.

Fayose’s counsel, Mr. Ajayi Owoseni, pleaded with the Judge to give them some time to study the charges before his client could take his plea , a request the Judge obliged him and adjourned the matter to Friday when the amended 56 count charge would be read to him and his plea taken.

When the case came up on December 15, last year, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacob, told the court that he wanted to re-arraign the  former governor as a result of fresh charges against him.

The re-arraignment could not take place because the defence lawyer opposed the bid. This led to a heated argument between both prosecution and defence counsel, after which the Judge adjourned to yesterday so that he could rule on the matter. 

The former governor has been facing trial since 2006 over N1.5 billion poultry project he embarked on when he was the chief executive of the state.

He was alleged to have diverted the money meant for the project to personal use. The former governor went into hiding after he was impeached over the matter. He was consequently declared wanted by the EFCC before he surrendered himself a year after.

Justice Abubakar had in December last year ordered the freezing of Akingbola’s accounts for various offences amounting to N346 billion and £10 million. Also ordered to be frozen by the court pending the final determination of the 28-count charge filed against him, were the accounts belonging to Akingbola’s wife, his companies and those of his agents.

At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, counsel to Akingbola, Chief Felix Fagbohungbe (SAN), urged the court to grant his client an interim order stopping the EFCC from  implementing the order of the court.

He argued that from all indications, the anti-graft commission was executing the earlier order out of order and beyond the orders of the court.

Fagbohungbe added that while he was not asking the court to vacate the order, the commission needs to be stopped by the court since, according to him, it was going beyond the orders of the court. He further stated that since the commission obtained the order in the absence of the former bank chief, it had become clear that it was exceeding the order by clamping down on virtually all the assets of his client, including the ones the court order did not cover.

“Your Lordship, an interim order is what we are asking for at this juncture and that is not too much for this court to give us, considering the fact that what the petitioner is currently executing is beyond the orders this court granted,” he said.

Replying, Justice Abubakar said he was not ready to grant any order whether interim or otherwise, noting that it would be better for other parties to be notified.  He instead urged him to take a very short date pending when the petitioner would be in court for the applications to be argued and sorted out.

“I am not ready to grant any order whether interim or otherwise in this case. I think the best way to go about it is to take a very short adjournment for the petitioner to be here for you all to sort the applications,” he said.

The judge consequently adjourned the matter to February 3, 2010 for all the applications to be heard and argued.

It would be recalled that the judge had ordered the freezing of the accounts of Akingbola who was relieved from his position, alongside the Managing Directors of four other banks, last August. He also ordered the accounts of his wife, his companies and those of his agents to be frozen, pending the final determination of the suit.

The orders were sequel to an ex-parte application brought by the EFCC and argued by its counsel, Konyin Ajayi (SAN), who filed under Sections 6 (D), 7(2), 24(11), 26(1), 28 and 34(1) of the EFCC Act 2004.

The EFCC argued that the freezing of Akingbola’s assets, was the best option since a prima facie evidence unearthed in the course of investigation showed that he had engaged in serious economic and financial crimes including money laundering, theft, market manipulation, tax fraud, obtaining by false pretences, criminal granting of loans and facilities, insider abuse, insider trading and abuse of office.

The anti-graft commission had sought among other things, the hearing of the originating motion within the shortest possible time to prevent Akingbola who had since fled the country  to London, the United Kingdom, from dissipating the assets.