N600m alleged money laundering: EFCC closes case against Lagos State speaker The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday closed its case against the speaker of the Lagos State house of assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who is standing trial over alleged money laundering to the tune of N600 million before a federal high court in Lagos . Ikuforiji and one of his aides, Oyebode Atoyebi, were arraigned before the court by the commission on a 56-count charge of conspiracy and money laundering. They had both pleaded not guilty to the charge, and were granted bail in the sum of N1billion with two sureties each in the sum of N500 million each. At the resumed hearing of the case on Friday, the EFCC counsel, Chief Godwin Obla, informed the trial judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, that he was prepared to close the prosecution case as he was no longer calling his last witness to testify in the trial. Following the development, the defence counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), told the judge that he would be filing a no case submission, as the prosecution has failed to prove the allegations against his client. Justice Ibrahim Buba, upon the agreement of counsels in the matter, adjourned the case to July 7, 2014 for hearing of the no case submission of the defence. The EFCC called two witnesses to testify against the accused persons. The first was an official of the agency, Adebayo Adeniyi, while the second was a former permanent secretary and clerk of the Lagos State house of assembly, Adewale Olatunji. In his testimony before the court, Adeniyi had detailed how the defendants allegedly laundered millions of naira. It was the testimony of the witness that the defendants allegedly collected N13.5 million for honorarium, N4.5 million for renovation of the speaker’s residence, and N1.5 million for the speaker’s guest house for six consecutive months. Adeniyi also gave graphic details of series of other transactions, which he said the speaker and his aide carried out by receiving money from the Lagos State house of assembly without passing through a financial institution.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 13:24:39 +0000
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