The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday July 1,
\n2019, asked Justice Danlami Z Senchi of the High Court of the Federal
\nCapital Territory, FCT, Jabi, Abuja, to dismiss an application brought
\nby the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke,
\nseeking an order to vacate a warrant of arrest order issued against him
\nand five others in April, 2019 by the judge.<\/p>\n
Others are former Minister for Petroleum Resources Dan Etete, Ralph
\nWetzels, Casula Roberto, Pujjato Stefano and Burrato Sebastiano.<\/p>\n
The defendants are being charged by the EFCC, for alleged fraudulent
\nallocation of Oil Prospecting Licence, OPL 245 and OPL 214, and
\nconspiracy, money laundering to the tune of $1.2billion (One Billion And
\nTwo Hundred Million Dollars), forging of bank accounts, bribery and
\ncorruption against Malabu oil and Gas Ltd, Shell Nigeria Ultra deep
\n(SNUD), Nigeria Agip Exploration (NAE).<\/p>\n
The judge had on April 17, 2019 ordered the arrest warrant for failure
\nof the defendants to appear before the court to answer charges preferred
\nagainst them by the anti-graft agency.<\/p>\n
At the resumed hearing of the case today, Counsel to Ralph Wetzel,
\nOpasanya Oluseyi, SAN, challenged the jurisdiction of the court on the
\nground that the counsels for the defendants have not been duly served.<\/p>\n
According to Oluseyi, there was no dispute that the charges have not
\nbeen served, and that the effect of non serving of the charges robs the
\ncourt the jurisdiction to try the case or make an order. He added that
\nunless the originating process is served on the defendant, the judge
\ncannot entertain the matter.<\/p>\n
The defence counsel also told the court that his client has not been
\nresiding in Nigeria since September 2016, and that the charges were
\nfiled in 2017, adding that there was no evidence to show that the
\ndefendant is being tried by any court or investigated by any government
\nagency in Nigeria as at 2016.<\/p>\n
He therefore urged the court to uphold the application of the defendant
\nand disallow the action and inaction to scare away foreign investors
\nfrom Nigeria by dismissing the warrant of arrest placed on his client.<\/p>\n
Also, Ikoli George Anthony, SAN, counsel to Dan Etete, (a.k.a Duazia
\nLouya Etete), adopted the arguments canvassed by Oluseyi and told the
\ncourt that there must be proof that the EFCC complied with strict
\ncompliance of the court. He argued that if EFCC fails to comply with the
\ncourt, the court will be robbed of the procedural right.<\/p>\n
Mike Ozekhome, SAN, Counsel to Adoke,\u00a0 while also relying on the
\narguments canvassed by other counsels, prayed the court to set aside the
\nbench warrant adding that his client has been outside Nigeria since
\n2015. He also argued that the issue of his client running away does not
\narise because his client is studying his PHD.<\/p>\n
In the same vein, Joe Kyari Gadzama, SAN, representing Casula Roberto,
\nPujato Stefano and Burrato Sebastiano also adopted the entirety of the
\narguments by his learned colleagues and added that his clients have not
\nbeen served and equally asked the court to set aside the warrant of
\narrest on them.<\/p>\n
The prosecution counsel, Aliyu Yusuf, while responding on the issues
\nraised by the defence, queried them on how they come to know about the
\ncharges. He referred to Section 113 of the ACJA 2015,\u00a0 “A court may
\nissue a summons or arrest warrant as provided in this Act to compel the
\nappearance before it of a suspect accused of having committed an offence
\nin any place whether within or outside Nigeria, in a state or in the
\nFederal Capital Territory, Abuja”, said.<\/p>\n
He added that Section 114 of the ACJA 2015 provides so many ways one can
\ncome to court and none of the Section overrides the other.<\/p>\n
Yusuf argued that any defendant who fails to show up in court cannot
\nchallenge the competence of the charge or the jurisdiction of the court
\nadding that the court should refuse the prayers of the defendants.
\nAccording to him, to dismiss the application will amount to abuse of
\ncourt process.<\/p>\n
He urged the court to uphold that the request for stay of execution of
\nwarrant of arrest is not provided by the provisions in ACJA 2015.<\/p>\n
After listening to all the counsels, Justice Senchi told the counsels
\nthat a new date will be communicated to give ruling on the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday July 1, 2019, asked Justice Danlami Z Senchi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Jabi, Abuja, to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n