Justice I.M. Sanni of a Federal High
Court in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, has thrown out the bail
application filed by a former Caretaker Chairman of Ogori/Mangogo Local
Government Area of Kogi State, Gabriel Daudu, who was convicted of money
laundering.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the same court
had on April 25, 2016 convicted Daudu of 77 counts of money laundering
and sentenced him to two years imprisonment on each count.
The convict had since been kept behind bars in Lokoja Prisons.
But he had, through his lawyer, Mr.
S.I. Onoja (SAN), rejected the judgment and urged the Court of Appeal to
overrule his conviction and set him free.
He subsequently filed a bail application seeking to be released pending the outcome of the appeal.
But in a ruling on Monday Justice Sanni threw out the bail application for lacking in merit.
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission had charged Daudu and a former Commissioner for Agriculture
in Kogi State, Albert Adesina, to court for money laundering.
The charges pressed against them by the
EFCC bordered on conspiracy, advanced fee fraud and money laundering
involving about N1.4bn.
But while Daudu was convicted on 77
counts and sentenced to two years imprisonment on each count to run
concurrently, Justice Ekwo, however, discharged and acquitted Adesina,
who was only charged with one count.
Daudu’a trial started first before
Justice Adamu Bello of a Federal High Court in Abuja before it was later
transferred to the Lokoja Division of the Federal High Court before
Justice Ekwo, where Daudu and Adesina were re-arraigned twice on amended
charges.
The prosecution counsel, Mr. Wahab Shittu, fielded13 witnesses and tendered 47 exhibits to prove the charges against Daudu.
Though Daudu, through his lawyer,
Onoja, called seven witnesses in a bid to prove his innocence, the court
however found him guilty as Justice Ekwo held that the prosecution
proved its case beyond reasonable doubt
Source:PUNCH
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