Money Laundering: Court Fixes New Date To Rule On Charges Against Yahaya Bello
A Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled April 23 for a decision on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) request for an alternative method of serving the charges against former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.
Justice Emeka Nwite fixed the date after counsel for the EFCC, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, and the ex-governor’s lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN, presented their arguments for and against the oral application.
During the arraignment for the 19-count money laundering charge against Bello, the former governor was absent when the case was called.
However, his team of lawyers, including Adeola Adedipe, SAN, was in court.
Mohammed, representing Bello, contested the charge’s validity, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and issue an arrest warrant against his client.
He informed the court that a preliminary objection had already been filed before the court.
The lawyer, who urged the court to vacate the arrest warrant order, said a Kogi State High Court had on February 9 restrained the anti-graft agency from arresting, detaining, or prosecuting Bello.
He said the ruling was on a fundamental rights suit filed by the former governor and that the EFCC was a party in the matter.
He added that two of the senior advocates representing the anti-graft agency in the instant charge were also involved in the matter.
Mohammed said the order was challenged by the EFCC at the Court of Appeal and the matter was already fixed for hearing.
He stressed that the arrest warrant was an attempt to bring the court on a collision course with the Appeal Court.
Bello’s lawyer, who insisted that the issue of jurisdiction was a threshold that the court must address first, argued that the charge ought not to have been filed in view of the appeal.
Mohammed told the court that, contrary to Pinheiro’s submission that the court should direct that he be served with the charge in the open court since he represented Bello, he was not authorised to receive the charge on his client’s behalf.
He argued that if the Commission could not serve Bello personally with the charge, they should formally apply so that the defendant could respond accordingly.
Besides, he insisted that their objection to the whole charge and the arrest warrant on the ground of lack of jurisdiction had not been dealt it.
However, the EFCC’s lawyer disagreed with Mohammed’s submission.
Pinheiro said the matter was fixed for Bello’s arraignment, and Mohammed, having announced his appearance for the ex-governor, could be served in the open court for the matter to proceed.
The court adjourned to May 23 for a ruling on substituted service.
Justice Nwite had, on Wednesday, issued a warrant for the arrest of Bello despite a subsisting judgment by a Kogi High Court restraining the Commission from arresting, detaining, or prosecuting him.
The court had also ordered that the ex-governor be produced in court for his arraignment.
