Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court in Lagos, on Monday discharged and acquitted a former Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, of an alleged N338.8 million money laundering offence.
Justice Liman also freed Ikuforiji’s former Personal Assistant, Oyebode Atoyebi, of the 20-count charge of misappropriation and money laundering brought against him alongside his principal by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The judge held in his judgement on the protracted case that the EFCC failed to prove its case against the defendants beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge held that charging a person under a non-existent law at the time of an alleged offence runs foul of the law.
“Money Laundering Prohibition Act of 2004/2011 requires clear evidence of intent and the actual act of laundering money.
“It is difficult to prove the offence of money laundering without the predicate offence; the prosecution has failed to prove this.
“The prosecution has not proved the money laundering offence beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Consequently, the defendants are acquitted of all the allegations of money laundering levelled against them in courts two to 54 of the charge,” the judge said.
The anti-graft agency had on March 17, 2021, closed its case against the duo after calling the second prosecution witness, a former clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adewale Olatunji.
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On May 4, 2023, defence counsel, Dele Adesina (SAN), opened the case for the defence, calling three witnesses, including the first defendant.
The EFCC had alleged in the charge that the defendants accepted cash payments above the threshold set by the Money Laundering Act without going through a financial institution.
The commission also accused the defendants of conspiring to commit an illegal act of accepting cash payments in the aggregate sum of N338.8 million from the House of Assembly without going through a financial institution.
Ikuforiji was also accused of using his position to misappropriate funds belonging to the Assembly.
The EFCC said that the defendants committed the offences between April 2010 and July 2011, thereby violating the provisions of Sections 15 (1d), 16(1d) and 18 of the Money Laundering Act, 2004 and 2011.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The defendants were first arraigned on March 1, 2012, before Justice Okechukwu Okeke on a 20-count charge bordering on misappropriation and money laundering.
The defendants were, however, subsequently re-arraigned before Justice Ibrahim Buba, who, on September 26, 2014, discharged them of the charges after upholding a no-case submission they filed to challenge their trial.
But, dissatisfied with the ruling, the EFCC, through its then lawyer, Godwin Obla (SAN), filed a Notice of Appeal dated September 30, 2014, challenging the trial court’s decision.
In its judgement, the Lagos Division of the Appeal Court, in November 2016, ordered a fresh trial of the defendants before another judge.
The Supreme Court upheld the appellate court’s verdict, and they were subsequently re-arraigned before Justice Liman.
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