EFCC Press Release
O
Justice Lawal Akapo of a Lagos
High Court sitting in Ikeja, on Friday June 27, 2014, dismissed an application
filed by Mahmud Tukur and Ochonogor Alex, praying the court to quash charges
preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The judge dismissed the application for lack of merit and abuse of court
processes.
In his ruling, Justice Akapo
upheld the prosecution's argument that "the issue of sufficiency of proof
of evidence cannot be raised until the prosecution had closed its case".
According to the judge, "this argument is vital and renders the
application premature".
It would be recalled
that, EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, had argued that the application
to quash the charges against Tukur and Ochonogor was premature since the
substantive suit was yet to considered.
Counsel
to Tukur, Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, had argued that the charges preferred against the
accused persons should not be entertained by the court because it was their
company, Eterna Plc that committed the crime imputed to them.
However,
Jacobs pointed out that the position of the law, on the issue, is that
"a company on its own cannot commit a crime but must use human
agents".
He
further submitted that, the company, without the human agents, cannot answer to
the alleged crime and that the roles played by the accused persons were clearly
stated in their statements.
He prayed the court to
"look at the statement of the first accused(Mahmud Tukur) who gave a
vivid account of the transaction and how he signed for the monies paid into the
account of the 4th defendant(Eterna Plc).”
Jacobs further submitted that
Tukur's statement shows his involvement in the transaction that led to the
charge. Besides, he said the accused is involved in the day- to- day-running of
the affairs of the company and that Ochonogor as Director of Finance during
this period, played major role in the importation and transfer of licence. “So,
Tukur and Ochonogor are qualified to be charged together with Eterna Plc, as
defined under the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State,” he submitted.
Justice
Akapo ruled that: "the
court cannot delve into the substantive suit at an interlocutory stage. I
therefore find no merit in the application and it is accordingly
dismissed".
He subsequently adjourned the
matter to September 15, 22 and 25 for trial.
Mahmud Tukur, Alex Ochonogor,
Abdullahi Alao and Eterna Plc were arraigned on a nine-count charge over an
alleged N1.8billion subsidy scam.
Wilson
Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
27th June, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment