The anti-graft agency asked that a directive be issued to collect all of the documentation already submitted to the court.
An order that will allow the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to retrieve all the documents it submitted as exhibits in the N4.6 billion money laundering trial of a former minister of aviation named Femi Fani-Kayode has been granted.
This was stated in a ruling handed down on Tuesday by Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos, which allowed it to re-file the accusations before the court’s Abuja division.
Due to the Court’s determination that it lacked jurisdiction in the case, the anti-graft agency asked that an order be issued directing the retrieval of all documentary evidence already submitted to the court.
This indicates that the case will be transferred from the Abuja division of the Federal High Court to Lagos.
Nenandi Usman, a former Minister of State for Finance, Fani-Kayode, Yusuf Danjuma, a former Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, and a company named Jointrust Dimensions Nigeria Ltd had all been charged by the commission on 17 counts related to the alleged laundering of N4.6 billion in the lead-up to the 2015 general elections.
In the middle of the trial before Justice Rilwan Aikawa in Lagos, the defendants contested the court’s jurisdiction, arguing that the events of the case actually took place in Abuja, not Lagos.
However, Justice Aikawa rejected their complaint, so they filed an appeal.
The defendants’ appeal was later upheld by the appellate court, which ruled that the Lagos court lacked jurisdiction over the matter.
EFCC Prosecutor Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) informed the court during the case’s resumed hearing on Tuesday that all exhibits and documents submitted by the prosecution should be made public in light of the Court of Appeal’s ruling so that the commission can reopen the case before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Justice Osiagor approved the application.
Fani-Kayode and others were accused by the EFCC of illegally keeping roughly N4.6 billion that they knew or should have known was a portion of the proceeds of illegal theft and corruption.
