A federal high court in Abuja has dismissed a money
laundering suit filed by Festus Keyamo against Atiku Abubakar.
Justice James Omotosho, in a ruling, awarded a N5 million fine each in favour of Abubakar and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, totalling a N10 million against Keyamo.
Justice Omotosho, who described the suit as “frivolous,
vexatious and abuse of court processes,” directed that the fine should be paid
“at 10 per cent per annum until the cost is finally liquidated.”
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/84/2023, Keyamo asked the court for an order compelling Atiku “to submit himself to the CCB, ICPC and EFCC for thorough investigation”.
Keyamo had alleged that Abubakar, while in office as vice
president from 1999 to 2007, used a bank account belonging to a company named
Marine Float, and other accounts of two undisclosed companies, as ‘Special
Purpose Vehicles (SPVs)’.
Keyamo alleged that Atiku used these SPVs to secretly divert and misappropriate public funds.
Assistant head of the Keyamo chambers, John Anietor, said
the case was dismissed because the court was of the opinion that law
enforcement agencies were not given sufficient time to commence investigations
before the suit was filed.
However, Keyamo said he will appeal the dismissal of the
suit.
“Our client respectfully disagrees with the reasons for the
said decision because the law enforcement agencies did not indicate their
willingness to commence investigations, even if they were given more time.
“We want to establish
a legal principle that society cannot wait ad infinitum for law-enforcement
agencies to do their statutory duties. The suit was designed to prompt the
agencies to show their readiness to investigate,” the statement reads.
“We are immediately filing an appeal against the decision to
the Court of Appeal as the struggle on this issue continues.”
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