The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are yet to decide between them who will prosecute 16 suspects accused of multi-billion fraud at the Consolidated Discount House Limited.
Lawyers representing EFCC and the AGF were engaged in arguments at the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday over who is empowered to prosecute the case.
Justice Mohammed Idris had, on February 23, ordered them to sort out who between them should prosecute the case, but the issue was not resolved, thereby stalling the suspects’ arraignment.
A lawyer, D.C. Enwelum, who appeared with Adedayo Adedeji for the AGF, said he filed a motion on notice praying the court to resolve the issue.
In the application, a former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president Joseph Daudu (SAN), Damian Dodo (SAN), Fabian Ajogwu (SAN) and Enwelum said they were given a fiat by the AGF last May 5 to prosecute the suspects.
Daudu, through a supporting affidavit deposed to by Adedeji, said after they were issued the fiat, the team of lawyers held extensive meetings and brainstorming sessions, and prepared and filed three charge sheets on the AGF’s behalf.
He said after filing the charges, they were forwarded to the EFCC to help serve the accused persons with them and to facilitate their production in court for arraignment.
Daudu said surprisingly, when the case came up on February 23, a lawyer from EFCC, A.B.C Ozioko announced appearance for the prosecution.
Ozioko had insisted that EFCC would prosecute the suspects, arguing that the suspects were in its custody.
But Daudu said in light of the subsisting fiat, no other person or agency can prosecute the accused persons except those authorised to do so by the AGF.
“The action of A.B.C Ozioko constitutes a nuisance to the proceedings and amounts to gross misconduct and abuse of the court processes and proceedings,” Daudu said.
The senior advocate said allowing the EFCC lawyer to prosecute the case would amount to a flagrant abuse of the AGF’s constitutional powers.
Daudu is praying for an order directing that the private lawyers who filed the charges are entitled to represent the AGF.
He also wants the court to order that the fiat precludes every other lawyer from prosecuting the case except the AGF himself.
Daudu also sought an order restraining Ozioko, or any other EFCC lawyer, from interfering with the case.
Three separates charges were filed against the suspects. Defendants in the first charge are Stephen Akinretoye, Peter Ololo and Falcon Securities Limited.
The second charge has Akinretoye, Mudashiru Shittu, Olawale Omisore, Captain Eddy Ndoms, Aquatic Transport Limited, Cross Oceans Limited and Ehco Ventures Limited as defendants.
In the third charge, Akinretoye, Shittu, Larai Claude-Eninn, Hassan Gbenga, Ajibola Jolaosho, Omisore Olawale, Omisope Johnson, Onimole Adebawale and Emmanuel Odedina are the accused.
In the first charge, the complainant, Federal Republic of Nigeria, alleged that between January 1 and December 31, 2007, the accused persons agreed among themselves to defraud Consolidated Discounts Limited by granting loans to Falcon Securities Limited, a company owned by Ololo, without proper documentation.
The prosecution said they allegedly converted N43.9billion being funds belonging to Consolidated Discount in contravention of Section 15 (2) and 15 (3) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2012.
In the second charge, Akinterotoye and others allegedly defrauded the company in the guise of granting loans to the fourth to seventh defendants and converted various sums, such as N520milion, N303million and N600million.
The prosecution said investigations revealed that Consolidated Discount had already paid for vessels before the dates of the various applications for loan made by the fourth to seventh accused persons.
In the third charge, the prosecution said the defendants, as employees of Consolidated Discount, committed an act of fraud by converting its N915.7million.
Shittu (as Managing Director) and Gbenga (as Financial Controller), between March 2012 and June 2013, allegedly transferred N1.6billion from Consolidated Discount’s Union Bank Plc account, numbered 0033295449, to various companies belonging to them.
Justice Idris adjourned until March 18 for hearing of Daudu’s application.