Chairman of Bi-Courtney Limited, Wale Babalakin, was on Monday discharged from the N4.7 billion fraud case filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of the Ikeja High Court said the EFCC had failed to disclose enough information to sustain the allegations against Mr. Babalakin, and his co-defendants.
“The amended information filed May 7, 2013, is incurably bad and defective,” the judge held.
Babalakin, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria; Alex Okoh, a banker; and their companies Bi-Courtney Limited, Renix Nigeria Limited, and Stabilini Visioni Limited had been charged on a 27-count charge of fraud, conspiracy, and retention of proceeds of criminal conduct.
The EFCC accused Babalakin of helping James Ibori, a former governor of Delta State who is now serving a jail term in the UK, to launder N4.7 billion state funds.
The defendants were first arraigned in January 2013, after which began a series of court room dramas that culminated in their discharge.
Long walk to freedom
Efforts to arraign the defendants were stalled on November 29, 2012, and December 12, 2012, after Babalakin’s counsel told the judge that his client was on admission at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH.
Three days before his initially scheduled arraignment on November 29, the lawyer visited the Lagos office of the EFCC to seek an administrative bail, with a promise that he would appear in court on the fixed date.
When the day arrived, Babalakin was nowhere near the Ikeja High Court, as his lawyer, Ebun Sofunde, told the judge that his client had suddenly fallen ill.
“I have been further informed that sometimes last night, because his condition deteriorated, he was taken to LUTH where he is presently on admission,” said Mr. Sofunde.
However, while his lawyer was apologizing to the judge over his client’s absence, another set of lawyers were at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi secretly seeking succour for Babalakin before Justice Mohammed Idris.
The development led to an “embarrassed” Sofunde, who said he was unaware of the suit at the federal court, announcing his withdrawal from Babalakin’s legal team inside the court room.
In his ruling, Lawal-Akapo noted that though the EFCC had the powers to prosecute the defendants with or without a fiat, the charge did not disclose enough particulars to warrant a conviction.
The judge also held that as a state governor, Ibori was not a public official as canvassed by the prosecution, adding that Mr. Yusuf’s failure to disclose his position was detrimental to the charge.
The judge said that while the EFCC relied on Section 158 of the Administration of Criminal Justice in Lagos State to charge the defendants, Section 35(a) of the Constitution was superior to it.
“Consequentially, the accused persons are hereby discharged,” the judge ruled.
Meanwhile, EFCC in a swift reaction to Babalakin’s acquittal, said that it will avail itself of all available options, including the right of appeal, after careful study of the ruling.
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