by Ranti Joseph

A Federal High Court in Lagos fixed June 18 for judgment in the trial of a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, charged with money laundering.

Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia on Monday fixed the judgment following the adoption of final written addresses and arguments by the counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the accused.

Fani-Kayode, whose trial began in 2008 before Justice Ramat Mohammed, was accused by the EFCC of laundering about N100 million while he was the Minister of Culture and Tourism and later, the Minister of Aviation.

The laundered sum was later reduced to N2.1 million on Nov. 17, 2014 after Ofili-Ajumogobia had dismissed 38 of the 40 counts levelled against the former minister for want of proof.

At the resumed trial of the case on Monday, the EFCC prosecutor, Festus Keyamo, urged the court to uphold the remaining two counts and to, accordingly, convict Fani-Kayode.

He said the former minister had failed to exonerate himself of the allegations.

Keyamo pointed out that the object of the charge was that Fani-Kayode transacted in cash sums above N500,000 which was the threshold stipulated by the Money Laundering Act stating that Fani-Kayode had personally admitted making such transactions in his confessional statement of Dec. 22, 2008 to the EFCC.

But Fani-Kayode’s counsel, Adedayo Adedipe, in his summary argument, maintained that Fani-Kayode made no confession to the EFCC, adding that EFCC had failed to show that Fani-Kayode actually accepted cash amounting to N1million as alleged in one of the counts.

Adedipe said the EFCC also failed to show to the court the person who handed over the money to the accused persons.

“In this particular case, the prosecution has failed to give the evidence of acceptance of N1 million in the entire trial, and none of the witnesses brought by the prosecution gave evidence of giving the accused cash,” Adedipe said.

The lawyer said the defence had raised doubts in the mind of the court regarding the veracity of the testimony of the EFCC’s witness, Supo Agbaje.

He said that Agbaje had earlier been declared wanted by the EFCC and subsequently listed as a prosecution witness.
“My Lord, reasonable doubt exists as to what happened and that doubt should be resolved in favour of the accused.

“Do we believe Agbaje, a man fighting for his liberty, for his life, who was remanded? Reasonable doubt exists in the testimony given by Supo Agbaje, who was declared wanted by the EFCC and later used as a witness,” Adedipe said.

Ofili-Ajumogobia, while fixing judgment for June 18, also granted an application to substitute Wale Ajisebutu with Ogbor Elliota as surety for Fani-Kayode.