Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday discharged and acquitted a former Executive Director of Projects at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Tuoyo Omatsuli of money laundering charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Also cleared were Francis Momoh, Don Parker Properties Limited and Building Associates Limited, who were tried alongside him on a 46-count charge over an alleged N3.6 billion fraud.
In his judgment, Justice Osiagor held that the prosecution failed to prove the offences of proceeds of unlawful activity and money laundering against the defendants. He said the evidence presented did not link them to the alleged crimes.
The judge also said the EFCC claimed its investigation was based on credible intelligence, but no petition or material evidence was presented in court to support the claim.
The defendants were first discharged and acquitted in 2020 after the trial court upheld their no-case submission. The EFCC appealed the decision and in November 2022, the Court of Appeal set aside the acquittal and ordered them to enter their defence.
Following the retirement of the initial trial judge Saliu Saidu the case was reassigned to Osiagor, before whom the defendants were re-arraigned.
They pleaded not guilty.
At the fresh trial, the prosecution called 16 witnesses and tendered 34 exhibits.
The prosecuting counsel Ekene Iheanacho applied to tender the records of the earlier proceedings under Section 46 of the Evidence Act.
The defence did not oppose the request and the court admitted the documents.
The prosecution also applied to adopt the earlier testimony of one of its witnesses and asked that all exhibits be deemed as read. The court granted the applications.
In his final decision, Osiagor held that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and discharged and acquitted all the defendants.
