Author: The Nation

The Court of Appeal in Lagos on Monday dismissed three appeals by suspected billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike alias Evans, seeking to stop his trial at two high courts in Lagos State.

A three-man panel led by Justice Jummai Sankey held that Evans’ appeals against three rulings of the Ikeja High Court were without merit.

Other Justices on the panel were Justice Philomena Ekpe and Justice Muhammed Mustapha.

In the three appeals, Evans challenged the lower courts’ jurisdiction and sought to strike out and quash the kidnap, attempted murder and murder charges filed by the government against him.

In the first appeal against the ruling of Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of an Ikeja High Court, the first to fourth respondents were the Lagos State Government and Evans’ co-defendants; Joseph Emeka, Chiemeka Arinze and Udeme Upong

Justice Taiwo, on November 10, 2017, dismissed Evans’ application seeking to quash an amended seven-count charge against him, dated October 26, 2017.

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The applicant also challenged the Ikeja High Court’s jurisdiction in the second appeal, where the respondents were the same.

The appellate court consolidated both appeals and Justice Sankey held: “The appeals are hereby dismissed. The ruling of the lower court is affirmed. I hold that the lower court has jurisdiction to continue with the trial and to entertain all the counts of the charge.”

In the third appeal, the first to fifth respondents were The State of Lagos and Evans’ co-defendants: Uche Amadi, Ogechi Uchechukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Aduba.

Evans claimed that Justice Hakeem Oshodi erred in law when he held that the amended information/ charge dated October 19, 2017, filed by the first respondent, was incompetent without an accompanying or attached proof of evidence as required by law.

But Justice Philomena Ekpe, who read the lead judgment, dismissed the appeal as being unmeritorious.

Justice Ekpe held: “Accordingly, this appeal is adjudged unmeritorious. It fails and is therefore dismissed in its entirety. The ruling delivered by the lower court by Justice Oshodi on November 3, 2017, in suit NO ID/5970C/2017, is upheld. I make no order as to cost, appeal dismissed.”

The Federal High Court on Monday dismissed a no-case submission by an Indian businessman, Patrick Fernandez, who allegedly defrauded five banks of N32billion.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged him along with three of his companies with 56 counts of fraud.

The commission said one of the banks contacted its Financial Intelligence Unit in July 2008 to report the fraud.

After the prosecution closed its case, Fernandez filed a no-case application, urging the court to discharge and acquit him on the ground that the prosecution had no prima facie case against him.

Dismissing the no-case submission, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun held that the defendant had some explanations to make in view of the prosecution’s evidence.

“The court only needs to determine, at this stage, whether a prima facie case had been made out by the prosecution against the defendants.

“In view of the evidences put before the court by the prosecution, the defendants need to offer some explanations on the allegations. They are hereby called upon to open their defence,” the judge said.

The affected banks, EFCC said, are Zenith Bank, Afribank (now Polaris Bank), Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank), Union Bank and Wema Bank.

The commission said the fraud was uncovered when the banks discovered that “they were clearing the same cheque” from Fernandez.

An EFCC investigator, Bashir Abdullahi, said Fernandez was involved in “cheque-kitting and round-tripping,” which he said is also known as “Lazy Susan – a business model.”

According to him, “Lazy Susan” involves members of a business group transferring money from one sister company to another without selling any commodity, using money obtained from banks as loans.

He said as at September 2007, the accused had less than N2 million in his account.

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“The volume of the transaction was also minimal, starting with N20 million. Within the same month, it rose to N600 million. The volume of this transaction also skyrocketed to billions of naira within just three months,” he said.

The transactions, he said, involved the use of “suspended cheques” which did not go through the clearinghouse.

“If he brings a cheque, a credit will be given to him immediately without going through clearance. Because he has a cheque discounting facility, if he brings N1 billion cheque, they will give him N800 million,” Abdullahi said.

According to him, Wema Bank, for instance, discovered that it lost N23billion through the defendant’s fraudulent acts.

On how the fraud was perpetrated, the witness said a high ranking Wema Bank staff member aided the fraudulent transactions.

The Wema Bank insider, the witness said, “was suppressing the cheque”, such that when other banks asked whether there was money in Fernandez’s account, the official would answer in the affirmative.

Abdullahi said the accused person claimed to be involved in oil and gas business, which he claimed was “cash-intensive” and therefore needed to be moving money from one bank to the other.

The witness said the bubble burst when the banks, at the clearinghouse, discovered that “they were clearing the same cheque”.

The prosecution called nine witnesses and closed its case on April 8.