N450M FRAUD: Diezani wants to testify in Nigerian court

A lawyer, Obinna Onya, on Tuesday told a Federal High Court in Lagos that the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, was ready to come down to Nigeria to testify in a case involving her, over an alleged N450 million fraud.

He said that the minister is in the United Kingdom contrary to the declaration that she is at “large” and prayed a Federal High Court in Lagos to order the Attorney General of the Federation to bring her back to Nigeria.

The former minister had left the country to the United Kingdom soon after leaving office in 2015. But the lawyer said that she would like to appear in court in Nigeria to defend the criminal charge bordering on alleged laundering of N450 million.

Diezani’s name was only mentioned in the case, while the main defendants are a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Dele Belgore; and a former Minister of National Planning, Professor Abubakar Suleiman.

The two main defendants, Belgore and Suleiman were charged before Justice Rilwan Aikawa on accusation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that they collected N450 million from Diezani and laundered same in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.

EFCC is claiming that the N450 million was part of a sum of $115 million Diezani was said to have given out to compromise the 2015 general elections.

When the case was mentioned last week when Belgore and Suleiman were arraigned on five counts, Diezani’s name was mentioned, but she was declared to be “at large”.

However, when the matter came up in the court on Tuesday, the Abuja-based lawyer, Onya, came up before Justice Aikawa with an application praying that Diezani be joined as one of the defendants in the charge.

In the application Onya filed pursuant to Section 36(1),(5),(6 (a)-(e) of the constitution and sections 216 (1) (2) (3) (4); and 217 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, he sought an amendment to the charges against Belgore and Suleiman, so as to join Diezani as one of the defendants.

According to Onya, the declaration by the EFCC that Diezani was at large was not true as the former minister was in the UK and was willing to return to Nigeria so that she could appear in court to take her plea and defend the charges.

He further contended that since Diezani’s name had already been mentioned in the charge, that it would be against the minister’s right to fair hearing for the case to proceed without affording her the opportunity to defend herself.

He said, “The statement made by the prosecution means that the applicant (Diezani) is going to be convicted without being given the opportunity to defend herself.”

The application sought for an order “mandating the Attorney General of the Federation, being the agent of the complainant, to facilitate the prompt appearance of the applicant in court on the next adjourned date, to take her plea and to defend the allegations made against her in counts 1, 2,3 and 4 of the charge, numbered FHC/L/35c/2017.”

Onya then called on Justice Aikawa to hear and determine the application before proceeding with the case on Tuesday.

Read also: GRAFT TRIAL: Buhari on revenge mission because of my role during campaign –Mrs Jonathan

The prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, opposed Onya and said that the application was not ripe for hearing, as he had yet to be served.

But Onya explained to the court that he had tried to serve Oyedepo on Tuesday morning on the court premises but that the prosecutor declined. He also said that his effort to serve the application at the EFCC office on Friday was also frustrated.

In his response, Oyedepo advised him to go and serve the application at the registry of the EFCC, promising that the application would be accepted.

Responding, on the issues, Justice Aikawa held that the court would not entertain the application until all the parties had been properly served.

The trial however proceeded with the second witness for the EFCC, Usman Zakari, continuing his testimony.

 

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