The judge handling the N7.1 billion money laundering case involving a former governor of Abia state, orji kaluon Friday, he pointed out the possibility of sanctioning the prosecuting attorney.
The trial judge, Inyang Ekwo, of the Abuja Federal High Court, gave the indication in a ruling that orders the main lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs, to show reasons why he should not be disqualified from further prosecution of the case.
Mr. Ekwo gave Mr. Jacobs, a senior Nigerian lawyer and longtime private prosecutor for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seven days to submit a written request to that effect.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that the judge made the order while ruling on a motion filed by the senior counsel chamber seeking the transfer of Mr. Kalu’s trial to the Lagos court division.
Mr. Ekwo, who dismissed his request to transfer his case to the Lagos division, argued that Mr. Jacobs and his team committed a gross abuse of the judicial process in the way they were prosecuting the case.
He recalled that the prosecution had twice written to the presiding judge of the Federal Court requesting the transfer of the case and the requests were denied.
He said the lawyer must abide by the court’s decision.
The judge added that there should be consequences for such an application that affected the real time of the proceedings on the substantive matter whose order was issued since May 2020.
“Counsel for the prosecution is hereby ordered to explain reasons within 7 days of this order, to this court why an order should be made disqualifying him from handling this matter hereafter.
“The court will issue further orders regarding a retrial once the subject of the indictment is determined,” the judge said.
The judge ruled that the motion for notice to be filed by Mr. Jacobs would be adopted on October 31, during which the court would determine the fate of the lead attorney, one way or another.
Mr. Kalu, a sitting senator representing Abia North, was tried together with his company, Slok Nigeria Limited, and Udeh Udeogu, Director of Finance and Accounts at Abia State Government House during Mr. Kalu as Governor between 1999 and 2007.
In December 2019, they were convicted of diverting 7.1 billion naira from Abia state coffers.
Mr. Kalu was jailed for 12 years, his co-defendant, Udeh Udeogu, was also jailed for 10 years, and Slok, Mr. Kalu’s company, was ordered to be liquidated.
Messrs. Kalu and Udeogu were already serving their prison terms when the Supreme Court annulled the proceedings that led to their convictions in May 2020.
The Supreme Court, on May 8, 2020, annulled the process that led to the conviction of the defendants and ordered a new trial of the case.
Mr. Orji Kalu, who holds the position of President of the Nigerian Senate, was released from prison based on the high court sentence, but quickly applied to the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop his retrial.
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On September 29, 2021, Mr. Ekwo, to whom the case was reassigned, controversially barred the EFCC from further prosecution of Mr. Kalu.
Mr. Ekwo, who also exempted Mr. Kalu’s firm, Slok Nigeria Limited, from the retrial, ordered the EFCC to proceed only against Mr. Udeogu.
EFCC subsequently filed an application, based on five grounds, for the transfer of the case to the Lagos division of the court.
One of the reasons is that the court’s Abuja division lacks the required territorial jurisdiction to entertain and try the accused in respect of the charges.
In its request, the anti-corruption agency recalled that the charges were originally filed in the Abuja Federal High Court in 2007.
The commission noted that the previous Supreme Court ruling on the issue of territorial jurisdiction in relation to the case had said that many of the ingredients of the crimes occurred in Lagos and that most of the prosecution witnesses proposed resided in Lagos.
He said that was the reason why the EFCC requested the presiding judge of the Federal High Court to transfer the matter to Lagos at the initial stage of the case.
Satisfied that many of the ingredients of the crimes occurred in Lagos, the commission said, the chief judge transferred the case to the Lagos division of the court where the defendants were tried and sentence was passed on the matter.
Decision
Meanwhile, the judge dismissed the request to move the trial to Lagos.
He said his refusal was because only the Chief Justice of the Federal Superior Court, Justice John Tsoho, could make such a decision under Section 98 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
“There is no question that the provision of Section 98(1) of the ACJA, 2015 gives the chief judge discretion over the transfer of criminal cases. I will not venture into how discretion should be exercised in our jurisprudence, since that has been adequately exposed in the respective briefs in this case”.
According to the judge, it is my opinion that this application has merit and I enter an order dismissing it.
The judge, however, held that the prosecution was free to return to the Supreme Court to request a review of the order that referred the trial to the Federal Superior Court.
He subsequently adjourned the matter until October 31 for Jacobs to show cause. (YAYA)