Court fixes March 26 for ruling on Ize-Iyamu’s ‘N700m fraud’ trial

M.G. Umar, judge of a federal high court in Benin, Edo state, has fixed March 26, 2020, for the ruling in the suit the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed against Osagie Ize-Iyamu, former Peoples Democratic party (PDP) governorship candidate in Edo state.

The anti-graft agency had filed the suit against Ize-Iyamu and four others over alleged  N700 million fraud in the buildup to the 2015 elections.

They were alleged to have collected the money from Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum.

The four other defendants in the suit are Dan Orbih, the state PDP chairman; Lucky Imaseun, former deputy governor of Edo; Tony Azegbemi, a former house of reps member, and Efe Anthony, a chieftain of the party.

The anti-graft agency in suit no. FHC/BE21C/2016 filed an eight-count charge against the accused persons bordering on alleged illegal receipt of public funds to the tune of N700 million for the purpose of the 2015 general election, contrary to the provisions of the EFCC Act and the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.

The EFCC further accused the defendants of conspiring among themselves to commit the offence in March, 2015, alleging that they took possession and control of the funds without any contract award.

On resumption of hearing on Monday, March 2, 2020, counsels to the five defendants, Ferdinand Orbih, Kingsley Obamogie, Pascal Ugbome, O.G Izevbuwa and Ikhide Ehighalua, after adopting their written addresses urged the court to strike out the charges against the defendants on the grounds that they were incompetent.

They argued further that the prosecutor’s reply to their addresses was in gross violation of the Legal Practitioners Act, Rule 10 (1), (2) (3) of the rules for professional conduct of legal practitioners, and averred that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the case because the petitioner’s reply was filed out of time.

Ferdinand Orbih contended that EFCC should have amended their charges against the defendants by removing name of the late Tony Anenih name from the charges rather than saying the late politician was irrelevant to the substance of the case.

But counsel to the petitioner, Larry Aso, while adopting his written address, urged the court to uphold his argument, maintaining that Anenih was never charged by the EFCC.

He urged the court to dismiss the defendants’ applications, saying that they cannot raise objection to the charges now as they have not taken their pleas, hence he described the defendants’ applications as grossly incompetent.

Aso averred that the court should not have listened to the argument of the defendants as the court can only have jurisdiction over the defendants after they have taken their pleas.

He argued that contrary to the submissions of the defendants, the petitioner’s reply to the applications of the defendants was signed by Austin Ozigbo, whose stamp and seal appeared on the reply.

The court subsequently fixed March 26 for ruling.