Last week, the U.S. District
court sitting in Illinois dismissed the complaints against Olalekan Ponle, the
Nigerian facing charges on multi-million dollar wire fraud.
Mr Ponle, popularly addressed as
Woodberry, was arrested, alongside Ramon Abbas (Hushpuppi) in the United Arab
Emirate, on June 10, for multiple fraud charges after a raid by operatives of
the Dubai crime unit.
They were extradited to the U.S
on July 2.
According to the complaint
against Mr Ponle, an unnamed Chicago company was tricked into sending wire
transfers totalling $15.2 million. Companies based in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan,
New York and California also were victims of the fraud, prosecutors say.
In what seemed like a plot twist
on Wednesday, the U.S government applied for a motion of dismissal without
prejudice and it was granted by the presiding Judge, Robert W. Gettleman.
When a case is dismissed with
prejudice, it is over and done with, once and for all, and cannot be brought
back to court.
On the other hand, when it is
dismissed without prejudice, as in the case of Mr Ponle, the dismissal is
temporary as the prosecutor can refile such within a certain period of time.
Although, the government
attorney, when contacted, declined to disclose the reasons for
the dismissal of the complaints, plausible reasons for such step include but
not limited to; insufficiency of evidence or inclusion of superfluous details.
The attorney, however, hinted
that the grand jury indictment, which summed the allegations against him to an
eight-count charge, is still active.
With or without the dismissal, Mr
Ponle is not yet a free man.
Between complaints and
indictments
According to the administration
of criminal justice in the U.S., both the indictment and the complaint serve
the same function of initiating a criminal case and informing the defendant of
the charges.
They also ensure that a
prosecutor has sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that a crime has
been committed.
A complaint is a statement of the
essential facts of the offence to be charged, made under oath by a law
enforcement official. This was what the FBI investigator first presented
against Mr Ponle.
In order to make an arrest,
prosecutors often file a complaint to hasten the process.
Unlike the complaint, to obtain
an indictment, the prosecutor must present proposed charges to a grand jury –
a body of jurors that investigates crimes and decides whether charges should be
filed.
The Jury, done in strict
confidence, may demand that some of the witnesses and evidence be provided,
after which they vote. Grand juries do not need a unanimous decision from all
members to indict, but it does need a supermajority of 2/3 or 3/4 agreement for
an indictment.
Most federal criminal offenses
require an indictment under the U.S constitution because the grand jury
proceedings are often a valuable test for prosecutors in making the decision to
bring the case to fore.
Nevertheless, if a grand jury
chooses not to indict, the prosecutor may still bring the defendant to trial if
he/she thinks that the case is strong enough, using the complaint.
In conclusion, Mr Ponle may
either be arraigned using the indictment or an amended version of the
complaints, since it was dismissed without prejudice.
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