Babalakin asks court to quash N4.7bn fraud charges. The Chairman of Bi-Courtney Ltd., Wale Babalakin and his co-defendants on Wednesday asked a Lagos High Court, Ikeja to quash the N4.7bn charges preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The accused, through their various lawyers asked Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo to quash the charges, alleging that EFCC, as a federal agency, lacked valid fiat to prosecute them in a state high court. Others standing trial along with Babalakin are Alex Okoh and their companies, Stabilini Visioni Ltd., Bi-Courtney Ltd. and Renix Nigeria Ltd. EFCC had charged them with 27 counts of conspiracy, retention of proceeds of a criminal conduct and corruptly conferring benefit on account of public action. All the accused were alleged to have illegally transferred N4.7bn on behalf of convicted former Delta State Governor, James Ibori. On Wednesday, Babalakin’s counsel, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), argued that EFCC lacked the power to institute criminal proceedings at a state high court without obtaining a valid fiat to do so from the state’s Attorney-General. Meanwhile, Onigbanjo had dismissed an application by Babalakin’s firm, Bi-Courtney, in which it had asked the court to quash the charges on the basis that Babalakin had filed an appeal against a ruling of a Federal High Court on a suit he filed to stop the proceedings at the state High Court. According to Fagbemi, while arguing the application for quashing, the fiat being held by EFCC to prosecute in the state court is no longer valid, having been obtained on May 12, 2004 under the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos State 2003 and Criminal Procedure Laws of Lagos State 2003. Fagbemi argued that both laws had been repealed. He relied on a ruling delivered on April 29, 2013 by Justice Samuel Candide-Johnson of a Lagos State High Court, in Igbosere in a case involving FRN and Olayinka Sanni. Counsel for Stabilini Visioni Ltd, Mr. Roland Otaru (SAN) and that of Bi-Courtney, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), toed the same line of argument. “Since the fiat has been nullified, the defendants have the right to insist that they cannot be prosecuted with it and I urge the court to quash the charge against them,” Oyetibo said. But EFCC’s counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), urged the court to dismiss all the applications, insisting that the prosecutorial powers of the Federal Government, through the EFCC, was governed by the constitution. Onigbanjo fixed July for ruling on the applications. VIA PUNCHNG
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 07:31:37 +0000
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