An Abuja Federal High Court has discharged and acquitted a former Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, Mohammed Bello Adoke, of money laundering charges.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, upheld Adoke’s “no case” submission against the money laundering charges against him.
In 2017, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had dragged Adoke and Abubakar Aliyu, a property developer, to court for allegedly laundering about N300 million.
While the EFCC admitted before Ekwo that it was a mortgage that Adoke took from Unity Bank, it alleged before Justice Kutigi that the money was a bribe from the sale of the oil block by Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd in 2011.
But on Friday, Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling on Adoke’s no-case submission, said he found that the EFCC had been unable to prove the essential ingredients of the evidence adduced in counts one to four of the 10-count charge filed against the ex-AGF and his co-defendant, Aliyu Abubakar.
Justice Ekwo, who held that the evidence were manifestly unreliable, consequently upheld Adoke’s no-case submission.
He, therefore, declared Adoke discharged and acquitted of the money laundering charge.
However, the judge held that the anti-graft agency had been able to make a prima facie case against Abubakar, the oil magnate, in counts five, six, eight, and nine of the charge preferred against him.
But he struck out counts one, seven, and 10 against the businessman.
The judge therefore adjourned until April 22, April 23, and April 24 for Abubakar to open his defence.
