{"id":67039,"date":"2019-05-30T21:17:23","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T20:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=67039"},"modified":"2019-05-30T21:17:23","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T20:17:23","slug":"alleged-n1-4bn-fraud-gov-udom-loses-bid-to-quash-charge-against-nba-president-usoro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/alleged-n1-4bn-fraud-gov-udom-loses-bid-to-quash-charge-against-nba-president-usoro\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged N1.4bn Fraud: Gov Udom Loses Bid To Quash Charge Against NBA\u00a0 President, Usoro"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos,<\/div>\n
\n
on Thursday, May 30, 2019, dismissed an application filed by Akwa Ibom
\nState Governor, Emmanuel Udom, seeking to quash the entire charge
\npreferred against Paul Usoro, SAN, President, Nigerian Bar Association,
\nNBA, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.<\/p>\n

Usoro was charged alongside Udom and others in a case of money
\nlaundering to the tune of N1.4 billion, belonging to the Akwa Ibom State
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n

The NBA President was first arraigned before Justice Muslim Hassan of
\nthe same court on December 18, 2018.<\/p>\n

He was later re-arraigned before Justice Aikawa on a 10- count charge.<\/p>\n

One of the counts reads: “That you, Paul Usoro, SAN, Emmanuel Udom
\n(currently constitutionally immune against criminal prosecution),
\nUwemedimo Thomas Nwoko (still at large), Nsikan Linus Nkan, Commissioner
\nof Finance, Akwa Ibom State (still at large), Mfon Jacobson Udomah,
\nAccountant-General, Akwa Ibom State (still at large) and Margaret
\nThompson Ukpe (still at large) sometime in 2015 in Nigerian, within the
\njurisdiction of this Honourable court, conspired amongst yourselves to
\ncommit an offence, to wit: conversion of the sum of N1. 410, 000, 000,
\n000.00 (One Billion, Four Hundred and Ten Million Naira), property of
\nthe Government of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, which sum you reasonably
\nought to have known forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity
\nto wit: criminal breach of trust and thereby committed an offence
\ncontrary to Section 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act,
\n2011 as amended and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”<\/p>\n

At today’s sitting, Justice Aikawa, in his ruling, held that the
\napplication filed by Udom lacked merit due to the fact that the charge
\nbefore the court did not include the Governor and his aides as
\ndefendants.<\/p>\n

The Judge held that “In a criminal suit, there are two segments: the
\ncomplainant and the defendant(s).<\/p>\n

“In this charge before me, the complainant is the EFCC and the defendant
\nis Paul Usoro.<\/p>\n

“Given the fact that the name of the applicant was mentioned in counts
\none to four does not make him a defendant in this case.<\/p>\n

“It is also unconstitutional for the Federal Government to investigate
\nand prosecute a serving governor. Gov. Udom cannot be charged in view of
\nthe immunity he enjoys, including his aides, and also due to the fact
\nthat the N1.4 billion were funds belonging to Akwa Ibom State and not
\nFederal Government.”<\/p>\n

The Judge further held that the applicant could not apply to the court
\nto quash the charge or seek fair hearing as prayed in the application
\nbecause he is not a defendant in the case.<\/p>\n

Justice Aikawa, therefore, ordered the prosecution to serve the defence
\nteam with the “proof of evidence”, prosecution witnesses’ statements and
\nletters from both Access Bank and Diamond Bank.<\/p>\n

The prosecution was also ordered to furnish the defence team with the
\ndocuments within seven days.<\/p>\n

Justice Aikawa adjourned the case to June 3, 2019 for continuation of
\ntrial.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday, May 30, 2019, dismissed an application filed by Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom, seeking to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nAlleged N1.4bn Fraud: Gov Udom Loses Bid To Quash Charge Against NBA\u00a0 President, Usoro - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/alleged-n1-4bn-fraud-gov-udom-loses-bid-to-quash-charge-against-nba-president-usoro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alleged N1.4bn Fraud: Gov Udom Loses Bid To Quash Charge Against NBA\u00a0 President, Usoro - 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