The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has appealed the judgment of a Federal High Court, Abuja which discharged and acquitted Shamsudeen, son of the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, of a N1.1 billion fraud charge.
In its notice of appeal, the EFCC complained of the whole decision of the court which discharged and acquitted Shamsudeen Bala, the respondent, on counts 11 to 19 of the counts before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba.
The anti-graft agency, through its prosecuting counsel, Wahab Shittu (SAN) listed 15 grounds of appeal and is seeking only one relief from the upper court.
It asked the appellate court for an order allowing the appeal, setting aside the judgment of Justice Dimgba dated February 7 and in its place enter an order convicting and sentencing the respondent.
The agency contended that the trial judge erred in law by holding that the case of the appellant against the respondent on count 11 was not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
The agency said the lower court ignored legally admissible evidential materials of proof beyond reasonable doubt, which reflected at page 12 of the judgment tendered by the appellant in support of counts 11 to 15.
It said the legally admissible evidential materials were tendered by the appellant against the respondent before the trial court without objection taken by the respondent against their admissibility, indicating that the comments were unassailable.
The agency submitted that the trial court erred in law by holding that the case of the appellant against the respondent on counts 12 to 15 of the charge were not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
In one of the grounds of the appeal, EFCC stated, “The trial court erred in law by holding that the case of the Appellant against the Respondent on Count 11 of the Charge was not proved beyond reasonable doubt.”
It also stated that the trial court erred in law when it failed to convict the defendant and held that the offences constituting counts 11 to 15 which the respondent was charged with and established on by prosecution could only be charged under section 27(3)(a)of EFCC Act 2004.
On February 1, 2017, Shamsudeen was arraigned before the court on 20 counts bordering on money laundering in a suit marked FHC/BAJ/CR/252/2016.
The EFCC alleged that Shamsudeen made payments of huge sums in cash for the purchase of properties in different parts of Abuja without going through a financial institution following which the defendant entered a no-case submission.
In a ruling delivered on December 14, 2021 on the no-case submission, Justice Dimgba upheld Shamsudeen’s submission in part by dismissing 11 out of the 20 charges.
Delivering judgment on February 7, 2023, Justice Dimgba held that the EFCC failed to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
On the allegations that the defendant forged signatures and documents to access illegal funds, the judge said the anti-graft agency’s forensic expert did not provide sufficient evidence to prove the charge.
“An allegation that a document is forged is a criminal allegation that must be proved beyond reasonable doubt and not by speculation,” he said.
The judge held that the burden of proof rests on the prosecution, adding that it did not discharge the burden beyond a reasonable doubt.
The judge also ordered the prosecution to refund Mohammed’s son’s N580,000 and $60,000 as well as other items taken from his apartment in the course of executing the search warrant on his apartment.