The Court acquires Fayose of N6.9 billion of money recycling accusations after a seven -year process

A Federal Court sitting in Lagos has discharged and acquitted a former governor of the state of Ekiti, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, of all the accusations on the border with money recycling and fraud, actually bringing a prolonged legal battle that lasted for seven years.

Judge Chukwujekwu Aneke, who governs a submission of a custody Tuesday, said that the commission for economic and financial crimes (EFCC) was unable to establish a first Facie case against the former governor and his company, Spotless Investment Limited.

The EFCC had reorganized Fayose with a position of 11 counts, accusing him of recycling N6.9 billion while he was governor.

Among the accusations there was that Fayose received ₦ 1.2 billion of cash for his campaign of governors of 2014 and other $ 5 million from a former Minister of State for the defense, Musiliu Obanikoro, without instructing the funds through any financial institution.

The Commission also stated that Fayose has maintained over 1.6 billion, which presumably used to acquire properties of choice through delegation companies including De Privalleer Ltd and Still Earth Ltd – transactions that presumably violated the provisions of the law on money laundering (Prohibition), 2011.

However, in its submission without the case filed on May 19, Fayose’s legal consultant and former general prosecutor of the Federation, the chief Kanu Agabi (San), argued that the EFCC did not connected his client directly to the alleged crimes.

He argued that the inability of the accusation of accusing inhabedun Agbele – the man who would receive the funds on behalf of Fayose – significantly weakened the credibility of the case.

Agabi also criticized the case of the accusation to rely on the testimony of witnesses who could not establish any communication between Fayose and the former national security councilor, Sambo Dasuki, from which the funds would have originated.

The second consultant of the accused, Olalekan Ojo (San), also presented a separate submission without a separate case, insisting on the fact that the key witnesses of the accusation-in particular Obanikoro-they provided contradictory or inconclusive tests that have not directly implied the defendants.

But the EFCC consultant, Rotimi Jacobs (San), urged the court to reject communications or by chance, asking why Fayose would have used the proxy and refused to document such large transactions in his name if they were legitimate.

“If the money was clean, why not buy the properties in his name?” Jacobs asked, while referring to testimonies of Obanikoro and EFCC investigator, Abubakar Madaki, who claimed that Fayose used the members to secretly acquire activities in Lagos, Abuja and abroad.

Despite these topics, the Court decided in favor of the defense, claiming that there was no enough evidence to request the defendants to open their defense.

With this sentence, Fayose, who ruled the state of Ekiti from 2003 to 2007 and again from 2014 to 2018, moves away from one of the highest cases of corruption established by the EFCC in the post 2015 era.

The case, which had attracted the widespread media and the attention of the public, adds to the growing list of politically exposed people who were acquitted after years of trial.

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