The Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled a hearing for March 7th to consider a motion that former Anambra Governor Willie Obiano filed.
Obiano is contesting the court’s jurisdiction to hear the N4 billion fraud case that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, has brought against him.
The former governor of Anambra reportedly entered a not guilty plea to all nine counts after the charges against him were read to him. The charges included allegations of purported N4 billion in money laundering.
Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, Obiano’s attorney, told the court during the case’s Monday restart that his client had submitted a motion contesting the court’s jurisdiction.
However, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, SAN, the EFCC’s counsel, stated that he had not yet submitted a response because the motion had been delivered to him in court on Monday morning.
Tahir said that as the indictment involved potential money laundering, the Federal High Court was naturally qualified to hear the case and that the question of jurisdiction had already been resolved by the Supreme Court.
The prosecutor was advised by trial court Justice Inyang Ekwo to fulfill his obligation by submitting a response to the motion.
“It is not for you to tell the court the Supreme Court’s decision on the issue. Respond to the motion and leave the court to decide”, Ekwo said.
During his final five years in office as governor, from March 2014 to March 2022, Obiano is accused of embezzling money from the state’s security fund account.
Between April 2017 and March 2022, he reportedly oversaw the money’s diversion from the state’s account and used it for expenses unrelated to the administration’s security concerns.
The EFCC claims that the money was transferred through businesses that were not associated with the Anambra government, changed into US dollars, and given to the outgoing governor in US dollars.
The nine businesses that were allegedly utilized to siphon off money from the state government’s security vote account were listed in detail in the EFCC’s lawsuit.
The amount and timing of a company’s receipt of funds from the state government’s account were revealed in each of the nine cases.
The EFCC claimed in count one of the accusations that N223,371,000 in total was transferred from the security vote account to the account of Connought International Services Limited between February 16 and March 9, 2018.
In count 2, the anti-graft agency claimed that a total of N95 million was transferred from the security vote account to S.Y. Panda Enterprises’ bank account between October 30, 2018, and November 13, 2018.
In Count 3, the EFCC claimed that N416,000,000 had been transferred from the security vote account to the account of Zirga Zirga Trading Company Limited between April 11, 2017, and June 21, 2019.
