JUST-IN: Court docket Acquits Fayose Of N3.3bn Cash Laundering Prices

Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal Excessive Court docket in Lagos has acquitted and discharged former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, of an 11-count cash laundering and fraud costs to the tune of N3.3 billion.

In his ruling on Wednesday morning on Fayose’s no-case submission, Justice Aneke acknowledged that the prosecution failed to determine a prima facie case towards the previous governor.

The choose additionally held that the witnesses and paperwork proof tendered earlier than the courtroom by the {Economic} and {Financial} Crimes Fee (EFCC) weren’t sufficient to show the guilt of the defendant.

The EFCC had accused Fayose of receiving a money fee of N1.8 billion from former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, with out utilising a {financial} establishment, an quantity that exceeded the legally permitted restrict. Moreover, the EFCC claimed that Fayose retained quantities totalling N300million in his Zenith Bank account and took management of an combination sum of about N622 million, which he ought to have recognised as proceeds of crime.

Fayose was additionally accused of directing De Privateer Ltd and Nonetheless Earth Ltd to carry cumulative quantities totalling N851 million of their Zenith and FCMB accounts, which they had been anticipated to have acknowledge as proceeds of crime. Moreover, he allegedly used roughly N1.6 billion to amass properties in Lagos and Abuja, figuring out they had been a part of the proceeds of crime.

He was additionally accused of utilizing N200 million to buy a property in Abuja below the identify of his elder sister, Moji Oladeji, which he ought to have recognized as illegal proceeds.

The alleged offences violate a number of provisions of the Cash Laundering Prohibition Act of 2011.

Fayose, nevertheless, had pleaded not responsible to all costs.