The Judge of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, Justice Babs
Kuewumi, yesterday dismissed two applications brought before it by the
former Special Assistant on Domestic Matters to Goodluck Jonathan,
Waripam-Owei Emmanuel Dudafa and his co-defendant, Azubuike Briggs on
the ground that the applications constituted an abuse of court process.
According to a statement by the spokesman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Wilson Uwujaren, the 1st and 2nd
defendants (Dudafa and Briggs) at the last adjourned date, brought
separate applications through their counsels, Gboyega Oyewale and
Tochukwu Onyuike asking the court to set aside the “guilty plea” earlier
entered by the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th defendants.
Dudafa’s counsel, Oyewale, feared that, the “guilty plea” entered by
the four companies would adversely affect them since the proceedings
were joint proceedings and the first count bordered on conspiracy.
He also claimed that the purported directors of the companies stated in
their statement to EFCC that they had nothing to do with the companies.
Onyiuke, on his part, challenged the jurisdiction and competence of
Justice Kuewumi to even entertain the arraignment of the four companies,
in the first place.
“The condition precedent to this Honourable Court assuming
jurisdiction, to wit: authority to represent the 4th to 7th defendants
by their purported representatives further to Section 477(3) of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, is completely lacking”,
Onyiuke argued.
He said accepting the “guilty plea” of the companies who admitted that
they conspired with his client to launder the money would occasion a
miscarriage of justice against his client.
Responding, counsel to EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo urged the court to dismiss
both applications as it was an abuse of court process at this stage
after the court had already assumed jurisdiction and the plea of the
defendants had been taken.
According to him, it was too late for the 2nd defendant to challenge the jurisdiction of the court.
Rotimi also called the attention of the court to the statements of
accounts from Skye Bank where the $15.5m was kept, showing that Davies,
Baro, Fredrick and Ebenezer were the authorized persons with mandate
to operate the accounts.
He said the accounts were opened pursuant to documents from the
Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, where Davies, Baro, Fredrick and
Ebenezer were registered as directors in the companies.
“The prima facie evidence before Your Lordship is that those who
appeared before Your Lordship are the directors of the 4th to 7th
defendants”, Oyedepo submitted.
In his ruling, Justice Keuwumi agreed with the argument of the
prosecution that the applications were indeed an abuse of court process
and accordingly dismissed same.
The case has been adjourned to November 2, 2016 for trial.
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