The Chairman of Bi-Courtney Ltd., Wale
Babalakin and his co-defendants on Wednesday asked a Lagos High Court,
Ikeja to quash the N4.7bn charges preferred against them by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission.
The accused, through their various
lawyers asked Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo to quash the charges, alleging
that EFCC, as a federal agency, lacked valid fiat to prosecute them in a
state high court.
Others standing trial along with
Babalakin are Alex Okoh and their companies, Stabilini Visioni Ltd.,
Bi-Courtney Ltd. and Renix Nigeria Ltd.
EFCC had charged them with 27 counts of
conspiracy, retention of proceeds of a criminal conduct and corruptly
conferring benefit on account of public action.
All the accused were alleged to have
illegally transferred N4.7bn on behalf of convicted former Delta State
Governor, James Ibori.
On Wednesday, Babalakin’s counsel, Chief
Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), argued that EFCC lacked the power to institute
criminal proceedings at a state high court without obtaining a valid
fiat to do so from the state’s Attorney-General.
Meanwhile, Onigbanjo had dismissed an
application by Babalakin’s firm, Bi-Courtney, in which it had asked the
court to quash the charges on the basis that Babalakin had filed an
appeal against a ruling of a Federal High Court on a suit he filed to
stop the proceedings at the state High Court.
According to Fagbemi, while arguing the
application for quashing, the fiat being held by EFCC to prosecute in
the state court is no longer valid, having been obtained on May 12, 2004
under the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos State 2003 and Criminal Procedure
Laws of Lagos State 2003.
Fagbemi argued that both laws had been repealed.
He relied on a ruling delivered on April
29, 2013 by Justice Samuel Candide-Johnson of a Lagos State High Court,
in Igbosere in a case involving FRN and Olayinka Sanni.
Counsel for Stabilini Visioni Ltd, Mr.
Roland Otaru (SAN) and that of Bi-Courtney, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN),
toed the same line of argument.
“Since the fiat has been nullified, the
defendants have the right to insist that they cannot be prosecuted with
it and I urge the court to quash the charge against them,” Oyetibo said.
But EFCC’s counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs
(SAN), urged the court to dismiss all the applications, insisting that
the prosecutorial powers of the Federal Government, through the EFCC,
was governed by the constitution.
Onigbanjo fixed July for ruling on the applications.
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