ALLEGED N4.9BN FRAUD: Please hands off my case, Fani-Kayode tells judge

Former Minster of Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has demanded that Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court Lagos remove himself from his ongoing trial.

The former minster is being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged N4.9 billion fraud.

He hinged his reason on the argument that the judge was a former prosecutor with the EFCC, adding that he does not see how he can get justice from the judge following his past relationship with his prosecutor.

Fani-Kayode made this known on Wednesday in an application filed through his lawyer, Mr. Norrison Quakers, recalling that Justice Hassan, then a senior counsel with the EFCC, was the officer who drafted, filed and signed a charge marked FHC/L/523c/2008, leading to his trial for alleged N100 million money laundering before Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia.

According Fani-Kayode, the EFCC had in the said trial, following the charges Justice Hassan drafted and filed for the commission, tried everything possible to ensure he was as guilty as charge but for Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia, who finally discharged and acquitted him on July 1, 2015 after seven years of trial.

Read also: Fani-Kayode’s counsel, others refuse cross examining EFCC witness

Quakers said, “The fact that His Lordship, M.S. Hassan, presiding over this case had previously superintended a criminal charge against the second defendant (Fani-Kayode) as an officer/ senior counsel for the EFCC creates likelihood of bias.”

Counsel to Fani-Kayode had a day before refused to cross-examine a prosecution witness. He had argued that cross-examining the witness will amount to his client submitting himself to Justice Hassan’s jurisdiction.

He had instead asked the judge to first decide his client application challenging the jurisdiction of the court before further proceedings in the case.

Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of State for Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman, Danjuma Yusuf and a company, Joint Trust Dimensions Nigeria Limited are being prosecuted by the EFCC over alleged N4.9billion fraud.

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