The trial of the former Lagos State Speaker Ikuforiji on money laundering charges has lasted over 12 years, journeying to and back from the Supreme Court within the period.
The Federal High Court acquitted on Monday a former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, of money laundering charges filed against him over 12 years ago by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge, Mohammed Liman, also acquitted the former speaker's then-Personal Assistant and co-defendant, Oyebode Atoyebi, of all 54 charges.
With a chequered history, the trial has lasted over 12 years, journeying to and back from the Supreme Court.
It passed through two trial judges before Mr Liman, who delivered Monday's judgement.
EFCC charged Mr Ikuforij Mr Atoyebi with 54 counts of money laundering in March 2012, accusing them of conspiring to illegally accept cash payments in the aggregate sum of N338.8 million from the Lagos State House of Assembly.
The prosecution alleged that the defendants accepted cash payments above the threshold the Money Laundering Act set without going through a financial institution.
Mr Ikuforiji faced a count of using his position to misappropriate funds belonging to the Lagos State House of Assembly.
The EFCC alleged that the defendants committed the offences from April 2010 to July 2011 in violation of sections 15 (1d), 16(1d) and 18 of the Money Laundering Act of 2004 and 2011.
Judgement
Delivering judgement on Monday, Mr Liman struck out the first count on the grounds of discrepancies in the timeline.
He went ahead to strike out the other 53 counts, which, he said, were charged under a non-existent law.
He noted that the pertinent question was which substantive law was in place when the defendants were charged.
"Charging a person under a law that was non-existent at the time of an alleged offence runs afoul of the law," he said.
The court also acquitted the defendants on the grounds of insufficient evidence presented by the EFCC.
He said the commission failed to prove the predicate offences - the more minor offences the defendants tried to conceal by indulging in money laundering.
"The 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 offence of money laundering 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," he said.
Trial
EFCC re-arraigned Mr Ikuforiji and his co-defendant in December 2019 when the case reached the third judge, Mr Liman.
Again, the two defendants pleaded not guilty as before the two earlier judges.
The judge allowed them to remain on the bail granted them in 2012.
EFCC closed its case on 17 March 2021 after calling two witnesses.
The defence counsel, Dele Adesina, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), opened his clients' defence on 4 May 2023.
He called three witnesses, including Mr Ikuforiji, who testified that he was prosecuted based on a faceless petition.
Mr Ikuforiji had told the court that the case arose from a petition written by an unknown person, alleging that he stole about N7 billion from the Lagos House of Assembly.
12-year journey
The defendants were first arraigned on 1 March 2012, over 12 years ago, before Okechukwu Okeke, a now-retired judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
They were arraigned on 20 counts of money laundering.
The charges centred on the allegations of receiving millions of naira in cash beyond the threshold of cash transactions stipulated in the anti-money laundering law from the House of Assembly without passing through a financial institution.
The EFCC said the alleged offence contravened Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail by Mr Okeke.
The defendants were later re-arraigned before Ibrahim Buba, now retired, following the re-assignment of the case..
Mr Buba granted them bail in the sum of N500 million each, with two sureties in like sum.
On 26 September 2014, Mr Buba discharged Ikuforiji and his aide after upholding their no-case submissions.
Mr Buba had held that EFCC failed to establish a prima-facie case against them.
Dissatisfied with the judgement, EFCC, through its counsel, Godwin Obla, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), filed an appeal dated 30 September 2014 against the judgement.
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Mr Obla argued in the appeal that the trial court erred in law when it held that the counts were incompetent because they were filed under Section 1(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, which was repealed by an Act of 2011.
He further argued that the trial court erred in law when it held that provisions of Section 1 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2004 and 2011 only applied to natural persons and corporate bodies other than the government.
He also submitted that the trial court erred in law when it concluded that the testimonies of prosecution witnesses supported the innocence of the defendants.
In its judgement, the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, in November 2016, upheld EFCC's submissions and ordered a fresh trial of the defendants before another judge.
Following the Court of Appeal decision, the defendants headed for the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the judgment of the verdict.
In its verdict, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal and ordered that the case be sent back to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to another judge.
