Nigeria
EFCC drops money laundering charge against former Lagos commissioner
The money laundering case against Olasupo Shasore, the former commissioner for justice and attorney general of Lagos, was withdrawn by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday.
The charge was dropped in response to a decision by Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
On the second day of the hearing, EFCC attorney Bala Sanga told Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court’s Abuja Division that his office, in his capacity as the prosecution, had received a letter from the AGF asking the anti-graft agency to drop the charges.
After stating that the letter would be delivered to court, Mr. Sanga asked the judge to put the case on hold while he awaited the letter’s delivery. The judge approved his request.
The defence attorney, Olawale Akoni, SAN, and the judge both received copies of the letter from the prosecution when the court was back in session.
“We seek to withdraw the case in accordance with the AGF’s directive,” Mr. Sanga informed the court.
“We will humbly be asking the defendant to be discharged,” stated Mr. Akoni, who did not oppose to the oral application.
As a result, Mr. Ekwo dismissed Mr. Shasore and ordered the charge to be dropped.
The charge is abandoned, and the defendant is released, he declared, after displaying a letter dated November 23 from the AGF and the prosecution’s request to have the case dropped.
The letter, sent to the executive chairman of the EFCC and personally signed by Mr. Fagbemi, was addressed to the AGF and bore the caption, “RE: Review of All Civil and Criminal Proceedings Between Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) and Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN).”
FHC/L/447C/2022 – FRN vs. Olasupo Shasore, SAN; FHC/ABJ/CR/386/2022 – FRN vs. Middlesex Investments Ltd; and ID/19657C/2022 – FRN vs. Olasupo Shasore, SAN were the charge numbers assigned to the cases.
“The above charges were being reviewed in light of recent developments in Process & Industrial Developments Limited vs. The Federal Republic of Nigeria (CL-2018-000182) and The Federal Republic of Nigeria vs. Process & Industrial Developments Limited (CL-2019-000752),” the letter, bearing reference number DPPA/OLASUPO/345/23, informed the EFCC.
“Therefore, you are hereby directed to withdraw the said charges with immediate effect and revert on compliance promptly, in accordance with the provisions of sections 105(1) & 108(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.”
Mr. Shasore was facing charges of money laundering in Lagos State and Abuja.
On November 4, 2022, the former Lagos AG appeared before Justice Ekwo of the Abuja court to be charged with 14 counts of money laundering.
Middlesex Investments Ltd. and Shasore were named as the first and second defendants, respectively, in the August 17, 2022 charge filed under the file number FHC/ABJ/CR/386/22.
It was purported that Mr. Shasore was a signatory to the company’s Guaranty Trust Bank account number and a director.
However, the former commissioner entered a not guilty plea to the offences and was released on administrative bail, which had previously been granted by the EFCC.
Mr. Shasore was charged with two counts related to suspected money laundering on October 20, 2022, in front of Chukwujekwu Aneke, the judge of the Ikeja Special Offences Court.
The former AG was charged with four counts of alleged money laundering and put on trial shortly after, before Mojisola Dada, a judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
October 23: In a challenge brought by P&ID, a business and property court in London headed by Justice Robin Knowles of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales annulled the $11 billion award against Nigeria.
Judge Knowles ruled that the case’s proceedings were against public policy and that the award was gained through deception.
Additionally, the court stated that it did not believe there was any truth to the allegations of bribery made against Mr. Shasore, who was representing Nigeria in the arbitration.
The federal government attempted to reverse the $6.6 billion arbitration verdict in favour of P&ID in 2017 in the case designated CL-2019-000752.
Since then, interest had been added to the amount, which before the judgement had reached about $11 billion.
