Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed eleventh of this month for commencement of trial of the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke on amended money laundering charges.
The trial judge gave the date after Adoke was re-arraigned alongside a businessman, Aliyu Abubakar, with fourteen count charges before the court.
According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, who is prosecuting the case, the re-arraignment followed the amendment of the old charges that saw the number of counts increase from seven to fourteen.
In the previous charges, six of the seven counts related to Adoke while only one related to Abubakar.
But with the amended charges, there are now seven counts relating to Adoke and seven relating to Abubakar.
They both pleaded not guilty to the charges when it was read to them.
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Subsequently, EFCC Counsel, Bala Sanga, prayed for short adjourned date for the commencement of trial pointing out that their witnesses are ready.
The case is one of the multiple charges the EFCC had filed in different courts in respect of various aspects of the controversial OPL 245 transactions, also known as Malabu Oil deal.
Part of the charges read, “That you Mohammed Bello Adoke, sometime in September 2013, in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court, used the total sum of N300,000,000.00 (three hundred million naira) when you knew that the said funds formed part of your unlawful activities to wit: acceptance of an amount exceeding stated threshold amounts outside a financial Institution, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15 (2) (d) and punishable under section 15 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended).
