Money laundering: Court fixes April 17 for NBA president’s trial

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Monday adjourned the trial of the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro (SAN) till April 17, for hearing of three pending applications. The applications are a Motion on Notice brought by Usoro pursuant to Section 36(6)(B)(D) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 379(1) of […]

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Monday adjourned the trial of the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro (SAN) till April 17, for hearing of three pending applications.

The applications are a Motion on Notice brought by Usoro pursuant to Section 36(6)(B)(D) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 379(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), seeking for an order of the court, directing the complainant to serve on him a summarised witness statement of evidence of those listed to give evidence in the matter.

The other application was brought by the Attorney General (AG) of Akwa Ibom state, Uwemedimo Nwoko, and three others.

The application filed by Mike Ozekhome (SAN) on their behalf prays the court to set aside the bench warrant issued against them.

The third application was brought by counsel to the governor of Akwa Ibom state, Dr. Charles Mekwunye, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to proceed with the entertainment of the charge.

It would be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had slammed a N1.4 billion money laundering charge against the NBA President, before Justice Muslim Hassan who recused himself from the matter for being a former prosecutor with the anti-graft agency.

The matter was later reassigned to Justice (Professor) Chuka Austin Obiozor, who also withdrew for personal reasons.

Then, the defendant (Usoro) was re-arraigned before Justice Aikawa on March 1, 2019.

He pleaded not guilty and had consistently maintained that the funds received from the state government were his professional fees.