Court Strikes Out Money Laundering Charge Against Ex-AGF

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja has dismissed the money laundering allegations filed against a former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke.

Delivering a ruling on a no-case submission filed by the former AGF, Justice Ekwo, held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) failed to establish a prima facie case against Adoke.

Ekwo further said the EFCC did not provide any evidence to prove the essential elements of the offence against the first Defendant, Adoke.

The EFCC had charged Adoke and Abubakar Aliyu, a property developer, 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.

Justice Ekwo also upheld the no-case submission, discharging and acquitting him.

However, Ekwo ruled that Aliyu Abubakar, the second defendant, had to open his defence because he had a case to answer.