The money laundering allegations against former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), were dismissed by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja.
Justice Ekwo, in ruling on a no-case submission by the former AGF, found that the EFCC had not established a prima facie case against Adoke.
Ekwo also noted that the EFCC did not present any evidence to substantiate the essential elements of the offence against the first Defendant, Adoke.
The EFCC had accused Adoke and Abubakar Aliyu, a property developer, of money laundering amounting to N300 million in 2017.
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.
Justice Ekwo ruled that the second defendant, Aliyu Abubakar, must present his defense as he has a case to answer.
