The group says the trial of ex-aviation minister Stella Oduah, CCECC and others for N5 billion money laundering charges may be stalled for the 13th time since 2020.
A civil society organisation focusing on anti-corruption has called for President Bola Tinubu's intervention in ensuring that the corruption trial of a Chinese firm, CCECC, and a former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, is not stalled again after over two years of botched arraignment.
In an open letter dated 3 June and addressed to Mr Tinubu, the Anti-Corruption Network said Ms Oduah's arraignment alongside her co-defendants in the N5 billion money laundering case has already been stalled 12 times since it was filed in December 2020.
The organisation said the case, scheduled to come up for arraignment on 5 June (Monday) and continuation of hearing on 6 to 9 June, "may be stalled for thirteenth(13th) consecutive time before Justice Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja."
This is because 'powerful forces' within and outside the judiciary have perfected plans for one of the defendants not to enter the witness box to take her plea on 5 June, 6 June, 7 June and so on, the letter signed by Olufemi Austin, Director of Programme; Abdulrasheed Dandutse, General Secretary; and Victor Obi, Director, Monitoring, read in part.
The group, therefore, called on Mr Tinubu to liaise with the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court Abuja and other persons you may deem necessary to unravel the 'mystery' and 'reasons' that made it possible for Ms Oduah not to have been arraigned, two years and six months after the EFCC filed this case.
It also urged him to direct the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the prosecuting agency, to ask the prosecutor handling the case in court "to urgently apply to the Chief Judge of Federal High Court Abuja for the reassignment of this case to any other judge."
The transactions flagged in the 25 charges filed against the defendants by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) took place in the twilight of Ms Oduah's tenure as Minister of Aviation in 2014 and beyond. The transactions involved Chinese construction giant CCECC and other firms and individuals.
The case has been adjourned on numerous occasions due to the absence of Ms Oduah, a serving senator representing Anambra North in the Nigerian Senate.
At other times, the case was adjourned to await a review of the case by the Attorney-General of the Federation's office.
But despite the clearance given by the AGF office for the case to continue since last year, the arraignment has yet to be held.
The Anti-Corruption Network expressed fear in its open letter to President Tinubu that the judge might rely on a letter sent to the chairperson of the FCC by one of the co-defendants to adjourn the case again on Monday..
Adjournment to complete restitution
In the letter sent to the chairman of the EFCC, the seventh defendant in the case - Crystal Television - appealed for an adjournment of the scheduled arraignment to enable it to complete the restitution it had already started.
In the 30 May 2023 letter sent on its behalf by its lawyers from the law firm of O. J. Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Crystal Television referenced 10 bank drafts dated 5 May 2023 and with a total value of N100 million being forwarded to the EFCC "as part payment" for the compounding of the offences against it.
Compounding of offence means paying compensation to the victim of a crime or an action to avoid litigation.
The letter said with previous payments and the N100 million cheques it was forwarding to the EFCC, "our client has the sum of N280,000,000 (two hundred and eighty million naira) balance payment and the same shall be paid as soon as possible."
'Activists sad over Oduah
The Anti-Corruption Network described it as disheartening that since the case was filed in December 2020 and assigned to Mr Ekwo, the arraignment of the accused had not happened.
"This credible, intelligent report explains why the planned arraignment has failed 13 times on record after EFCC finished their investigation and filed the case at Federal High Court Abuja," the group said.
It added that "the well-rehearsed orchestrated script and drama that have been played for the past three years in the Federal High Court Abuja before Justice Ekwo is a monumental disgrace and slap to the ANTI CORRUPTION CRUSADE OF APC LED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT."
It noted that despite the explicit provision of the law, especially section 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA 396), "which provides that defendant has to take plea first before raising preliminary objection and also the clear letter of 6 May 2022 from the office of AGF that she should take her plea, yet she did not take a plea from December 2020 till date."
The group also wondered why the EFCC chair, Abdulrasheed Bawa, had yet to direct the prosecutor handling the case to apply to the Chief Judge of Federal High Court Abuja to reassign this case.
Charges against Senator Oduah and others
This newspaper had reported how the EFCC, on December 17, 2020, filed 25 counts accusing Ms Oduah, while being Nigeria's Minister of Aviation, and her co-defendants of laundering various sums of money totalling about N5,052,415,984 between February and June 2014.
One of the co-defendants is Gloria Odita (2nd defendant), who is said to be an aide to Ms Oduah when she was Minister of Aviation and company secretary of Sea Petroleum & Gas Company (SPGC) Limited, a firm founded by the former minister.
The rest are an employee of SPCG and aides to Ms Oduah, Nwobu Nnamdi (3rd defendant), Chukwuma Chinyere (4th defendant), Crystal Television Limited (7th defendant), and Sobora International Limited (8th defendant).
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The ninth defendant is CCECC Nigeria Ltd, the Nigerian subsidiary of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), established by the Chinese government to execute international contracts and economic cooperation.
The EFCC accused the defendants of conspiracy to commit money laundering, transferring, taking control and taking possession of proceeds of fraud, aiding and abetting money laundering and opening anonymous bank accounts.
Specifically, the prosecution alleged in two of the 25 counts that Ms Oduah and Ms Odita opened anonymous "Private Banking Nominee" dollar and naira accounts with First Bank, thereby committing an offence contrary to section 11(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended) and punishable under section 11(4) (a) of the same Act.
PREMIUM TIMES' review of the charges showed that CCECC Nigeria Limited allegedly transferred over N2.5 billion into the naira account of a Private Banking Nominee between March 31 and June 6, 2014.
In seven of the counts where CCECC is indicted singly and along with Ms Oduah and Ms Oditah, the company was accused of "conspiring with the women to commit money laundering, and directly transferring to Private Banking Nominee account various sums of money totalling N2,583,385,246 which it reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity to wit: fraud...."
