Alleged N4.7b money laundering: Babalakin, others wants court to quash charge

FRANCIS IWUCHUKWU

Chairman, Bi-Courtney Limited, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN) alongside his co-defendants, yesterday prayed Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, to throw out the charge made against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Bi-Courtney boss alongside Alex Okoh, Stabilini Vision Limited, Bi-Courtney Limited and Renix Nigeria Limited are currently facing a 27-count charge that touches on alleged fraudulent transfer of N4.7 billion on behalf of the convicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori.

Specifically, the anti-graft agency alleged that Babalakin and others fraudulently assisted Ibori to transfer huge sums of money through various parties to Erin Aviation account in Mauritius for the purchase of a plane.

At Monday's sitting on thhe matter, the defendants through their lawyer, Dr. Biodun Layonu (SAN), Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) and Mr. O. Akinosun respectively suggested that the action was incompetent and urged the court to quash same.

Particularly, Layonu insisted that it was unconstitutional for two distinct prosecuting authorities to jointly prosecute an individual, adding that he had done a thorough research and had yet to stumble upon any legal instance where such had happened.

The senior also challenged the EFCC to furnish the court with such an instance if it knew of any, with a further position that the court should dismiss the case if the prosecution failed to do so. Layonu said, "Our submission is that it (joint-prosecution) is unknown to Law. There is no judicial authority to support it. If they fail to show that it has foundation in Law, then it is a nullity."

Layonu stated further that even if joint-prosecution was allowed, the Attorney-General of the Federation was not represented on the statement of charge.

On his part, counsel to the second defendant, Oyetibo (SAN) equally asked the to quash the charge against the defendants on similar grounds. The SAN insisted that the suit lacks legal backing because the charge did not contain the ingredents of the offences alleged.

According to Oyetibo, "The first duty of the Constitution is to ensure that every ingrident of the offence is contained in the charge as claimed. This is not a technical requirment but a requirement of high constitutional importance.

"All the counts did not disclose criminal conduct of what James Ibori did. Nothing in the proof of evidence that support the count against the defendants, 2nd defendant in particular. It is an abuse of the court to file a criminal charge against the defendants in a case where the proof of evidence does not support the alleged charge. Such a proceeding would be oppressive."

The matter has been adjourned till July 14 to entertain submissions of the other two defendants in the case.