Three embattled former officials of Bayelsa State government standing trial for alleged misappropriation of N2bn during the tenure of former Governor Timipre Sylva’s have asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to quash the charges against them for abuse of court processes.
The accused persons ― Abbot Clinton, a former official of Bayelsa State Treasury Department; Dr. Charles, Opuala a former Commissioner of Finance; and Anthony Ikhobo Howels ― were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a six-count charge after a N2bn loan obtained by the Bayelsa State government from the Union Bank Plc to augment the salary of state Civil servants disappeared from the treasury.
The accused persons were initially charged at the Federal High Court presided over by Justice Donatus Okorowo, before the judge proceeded on transfer.
At the resumed trial before Justice Elvis Chukwu, the accused persons, in applications made by their lawyers, urged the court to quash the charges brought against them by EFCC in 2010.
Moving the application on behalf of Mr. Abbot Clinton, former official in the Treasury Department at the state, Mr. Chris Uche (SAN), told the court that there was nothing in the proof of evidence linking his client to the alleged crimes as contained in the charge.
He also averred that the accused persons were charged to court over the alleged crimes as scapegoats, since the main suspect in the alleged crime, former governor Sylva, could not be arrested and arraigned at that time due to the constitutional immunity he enjoyed as a governor.
He contended that with the former governor having been charged on the same six-count charge as the one his client is standing trial for, the charge against his client had become an abuse of court process which ought to be struck.
Similarly, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), representing, Dr. Charles Opuala who was a Commissioner of Finance, pointed out that there is no atom of evidence in the proof of evidence attached alongside the charge that links his client in any way, with the crimes he allegedly committed. He argued that the court cannot convict his client for an offence possibly committed by another.
“The summary is that it is obvious that the accused persons cannot be convicted for an offence that somebody else committed,” he said.
“The former governor who was the chief executive of the state when the crime was allegedly committed has now been charged by the same EFCC before another Federal High Court, for the same offence.”
He also faulted the appearance of Mr. Ugochukwu Ezekiel for the prosecution, arguing that he is not the person to whom the Attorney General of the Federation donated the fiat to prosecute the accused persons neither was he the person briefed by the EFCC to prosecute the accused on its behalf.
Furthermore, Olanipekun challenged the competence of the charge signed by Mr. Festus Keyamo as a private prosecutor, a situation he considered abnormal given the constitutional provisions making the AGF the only authority to prosecute criminals. He urged the court to strike out the charge as one based on frivolity and recklessness, not supported by any shred of law.
On his part, Mr. Josiah Daniel Abule, counsel to the third accused person, Mr. Anthony Ikhobo Howels, contended that the prosecution appears to be confused as to who committed the crime, having charged separate parties for the same crime before two different courts.
He described the charge as a fabrication against his client who is not linked in any way to the alleged crimes from the proof of evidence filed by the EFCC, and urged the court to quash the charge being, according to him, a “fishing exhibition by the EFCC.”
Responding to the application, the prosecutor, Mr. Ugochukwu Ezekiel told the court that the only duty it has at this stage is to determine whether a prima facie case has been made against the accused persons to warrant their trial.
He argued that the accused persons lack the power to attack the proof of evidence owing to the provision of Section 35 of the Federal High Court Act, which makes their trial a summary one.
He pointed out to the court that the former judge, Justice Donatus Okorowo who started the trial before his transfer, had earlier on refused a similar application by the accused to quash the charge and urged the court to dismiss the applications and order the accused to face their trial.
On the argument that the alleged culprit of the crime Temipre Sylva has been charged in another court, Ezekiel told the court that the prosecution has the right to pick and choose which accused person to charge at any instant so far that there is evidence against the accused.
“Sylva is not the accused person here, neither are the accused persons here standing trial at the other court, the parties are different, so there is no issue of collusion here. That the charges are similar does not mean that those who connived with the former governor to commit the alleged crime should not be charged,” he further stated.
After all the submissions were made, Justice Chukwu reserved ruling on the application till April 22, 2013.
