The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the money laundering allegations brought before it against a former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The court ruled that the . anti-graft agency, during the proceedings, failed to establish a prima facie case against Adoke, which could help to ascertain their allegations against him.
Delivering a ruling on a no-case submission filed by the former AGF, Justice Inyang Ekwo, held that the EFCC did not provide any evidence to prove the essential elements of the offence which Adoke committed while serving as the country’s legal counsel.
Before the ruling, EFCC had dragged Adoke and Abubakar Aliyu, a property developer, before the court in 2017 alleging money laundering to the tune of N300m.
Although there was no mention of the OPL 245 transaction in this case, the same particulars were also charged by the EFCC before Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the FCT high court in 2020.
While the EFCC admitted before Ekwo, that it was a mortgage that Adoke took from Unity Bank, it alleged before Kutigi that the money was a bribe from the sale of the oil block by Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd in 2011.
On March 28, 2024, Kutigi pointed out the contradiction, while dismissing the charges against Adoke and other defendants, chiding the EFCC for wasting the court’s time for four years.
Ekwo also upheld the no-case submission, discharging and acquitting him.
However, the judge ruled that Aliyu Abubakar, the second defendant, had to open his defence because he had a case to answer.
