Nigerian High Court Discharges, Acquits Ex-Attorney General, Adoke In OPL 245 Trial, Says ‘EFCC Failed To Prove Case’

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has discharged and acquitted the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, in the OPL 245 trial.

 

Justice Abubakar Kutigi dismissed the charges of fraud, bribery and conspiracy filed against Adoke by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

 

Justice Kutigi while ruling on the “no case” submission made by Adoke, said the EFCC failed to prove its charges of fraud, bribery and money laundering against Adoke and ruled that the defendant has no case to answer.

 

TheCable reports that Justice Kutigi said the allegation of illegal tax waivers granted to Shell and Eni was not corroborated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) or any authority.

Regarding the alleged N300 million bribe reportedly given to Adoke by Aliyu Abubakar, the court ruled that the EFCC did not provide the necessary evidence to prove its case.

SaharaReporters had reported that the EFCC admitted that it lacked the evidence to support its case against Adoke and others including Shell and Eni.

The anti-corruption agency had dropped the criminal case against Adoke over the OPL 245 fraudulent transaction in 2011.

 

The EFCC which arraigned Adoke (SAN) alongside Aliyu Abubakar, Rasky Gbinigie (Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd company secretary), Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd, Nigeria Agip Exploration Ltd, Shell Ultra Deep Nigeria Ltd, and Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo), recently said that it did not have evidence to support its charges of fraud, bribery and conspiracy against the former minister. 

 

In its response to the no-case submission filed by Adoke, who was listed as the first defendant in the charges all related to the OPL 245 transaction of 2011, the EFCC told the FCT High Court that it would not oppose the application.

 

The anti-graft agency, however, insisted that Gbinigie had a case to answer over the alleged forgery of company documents to remove the name of Mohammed Abacha as a director of Malabu Oil & Gas.

 

SaharaReporters reported in January 2020 that the EFCC filed multiple corruption charges against Adoke including those related to money laundering, denying Nigeria taxes and an alleged N300 million bribe.

 

It reported that EFCC first filed seven counts against the former attorney-general before the Federal High Court in Abuja and 12 counts before the FCT High Court.

 

In the charge before the FCT High Cout, the commission accused Adoke of accepting N300 million from a controversial businessman, Abubakar Aliyu, as a bribe sometime in September 2013, in Abuja.

 

In the charge numbered FHC/ABJ/CR/39/2017, the EFCC said the alleged offences were contrary to section 1 (a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 (as amended) and punishable under section 16 (2)(b) of the same Act.

In the charge before the FCT High Court, the commission accused Mr Adoke of accepting gratification from Mr Aliyu to facilitate and negotiate the OPL 245 resolution agreement with Shell, Eni and their Nigerian subsidiaries.

 

The commission also accused Mr Adoke of conspiring and agreeing to waive taxes due to the Federal Government of Nigeria by illegal means through the execution of the OPL 245 Resolution Agreement between the Nigerian government, the oil multinationals and a shady company, Malabu Oil and Gas.

 

The EFCC said his offences were contrary to Section 115 of the Penal Code and punishable under the same section of the Penal Code.

 

Adoke, however, denied all allegations, maintaining that the N300 million being described as a bribe by the EFCC was a mortgage he took from Unity Bank Plc in 2012.

 

However, SaharaReporters learnt that the shock felt by many Nigerians following the EFCC’s admission that it lacked evidence to pursue the case was not just about the concurrence of the EFCC lawyer with it but other intriguing circumstances surrounding the case before now and the turn the case finally took.

 

The effective prosecution of that case saw the repatriation of Adoke by the Nigerian Government from Dubai to face trial after remaining fugitive for over three years. During the trial, two transacting persons gave different versions of the circumstances of their transactions even in court and in a book published by Adoke. 

 

While Adoke claimed in his highly controversial book that the repayment of a loan he obtained from Unity Bank to purportedly purchase a house was ‘directly’ repaid by Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar, he was contradicted by Abubakar who submitted that he refunded the N300 million equivalence in dollars to Adoke directly, in cash. 

 

That violated the Money Laundering Act of the country. 

 

The account of Abubakar was corroborated by the statement of a bank manager who admitted that he was handed cash of about $1.5 million by Adoke to be deposited for the repayment of his questionable loan from the bank and the balance paid into his account. The Bureau de Change operator used to convert the money also made a statement admitting involvement in the case. 

 

It was learnt that considering the overwhelming evidence against the suspect and the failure to stall the trial, the services of some senior lawyers were procured to harass the judges and also deploy other influences in swinging the case from justice. 

 

The case suffered several shenanigans at the hands of the lawyers, including denial of voluntarily made statements by the suspects and some even made by their lawyers where they lacked the educational capacity to write a statement, like in the case of Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar. 

 

SaharaReporters learnt that while Adoke, who became the Personal Assistant and ADC to the FCT minister and immediate past Governor of River State, Nyesom Wike in the last two years was working through Wike to get the judiciary on his side, the lawyers were manipulating the courts and sadly, the President was negotiating deals for Oando with Eni. 

 

Former President Muhammadu Buhari refused to give any consideration to such for the eight years that the investigation and prosecution lasted. 

Sources confirmed that the EFCC’s lawyer was issued a query following the suspicion that he was compromised by suspects in the case. 

According to sources, following the news of the lawyer’s action reverberating in the Commission, the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede ordered the lawyer to be served with a query for taking an action that was not the position of the commission.

The EFCC boss also reportedly directed the Commission’s Director (Legal) to immediately take over the case and file an appropriate written address for the commission. 

It was this attempt at redressing the attempt by the EFCC’s Director (Legal) through a request for a brief adjournment, considering the address submitted by the suspended lawyer was yet to be adopted by the Commission, that was vehemently opposed by the lawyers of Adoke and others. Unfortunately, the judge agreed with them and stampeded the lawyer to adopt what was arranged and submitted earlier, a source told SaharaReporters.

 

With the FCT High Court ruling, Nigeria has lost virtually all the OPL 245 cases it filed or joined in Italy, the UK and Nigeria as this judgment is expected to bring litigation over the OPL 245 to an end.