A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, presided over by Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo, yesterday set aside January 19, 2015 as the day to deliver ruling on the application to quash the N4.7 billion fraud charge made by Chairman of Bi-courtney Limited, Wale Babalakin (SAN).
The judge arrived at the decision, shortly after both the prosecution and defence lawyers argued for and against with respect to the said application seeking to quash the charge.
It would be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had filed the charge against the Bi-courtney chairman alongside his two companies: Bi-Courtney Limited and Stabilini Vision Limited (3rd and 4th defendants), including one Alex Okoh and Renix Nigeria Limited.
They are standing trial on a 27-count charge of allegdly fraudulently transferring N4.7 billion on behalf of the convicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori.
EFCC alleged that the Bi-courtney boss and his co-defendants fraudulently assisted Ibori to transfer huge sums of money through various parties to Erin Aviation account in Mauritius for the purchase of an aircraft.
But Babalakin alongside his co-defendants through their various lawyers instituted separate applications, praying Justice Lawal-Akapo to quash the N4.7bn charges, with a position that the EFCC, as a federal agency, lacked valid fiat to prosecute them in a state high court.
The defendants through their counsel, Dr. Biodun Layonu (SAN), Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), Mr. Roland Otaru (SAN), Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN) and Mr. Oladapo Adeosun had also argued that the state High Court has no jurisdiction to hear offences brought under the EFCC Act.
The lawyers posited that all the charges against the defendant were predicated on repealed laws of Lagos State and urged the court to quash the charges.
They also submittd that the defendants were not properly informed of the details they were charged for as stated in the Constitution, adding that count 2 to 13 of the charge did not inform the defendant the details of the offence, neither did they constitute an offence under any written law in the country.
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