Akingbola asks court to quash N47.1b theft charge

A former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, Erastus Akingbola, on Wednesday asked an Ikeja High Court to quash the N47.1 billion theft charge preferred against him.
Akingbola made the request in an application dated July 4, which was filed by his counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo.
Akingbola is being prosecuted alongside Bayo Dada, the General Manager of Tropics Securities Limited.
They were charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly stealing the money belonging to the bank.
Moving the application, Olanipekun asked the court to strike out the charge against his client dated May 4, 2011, which was brought in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Olanipekun said the accused persons were charged to court by the EFCC for stealing under Section 390(7) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2003.
According to him, the EFCC has no power to prosecute accused persons in a state high court, without a valid fiat issued to the agency by the state’s attorney-general.
He said: “Section 211 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gives the attorney-general of the state power to initiate criminal proceedings in the state high courts and other lower courts.
“We are talking about a constitutional issue.
“We are talking about a fundamental issue.
“We are talking about a recondite issue.
“We are saying the Federal Government cannot prosecute a case of stealing before a Lagos High Court under the Lagos State Criminal Code.
“If Your Lordship overrules us on this issue, it means the Federal Government can come before the state high court to prosecute a case of reckless driving or environmental offences.”
Olanipekun further argued that the proof of evidence did not disclose the offence of stealing against Akingbola.
However, the EFCC counsel, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the application.
Ukala said: “The Constitution does not say that the attorney-general has monopoly to initiate criminal proceedings before a state high court.
“The EFCC has the power to initiate proceedings in any matter relating to financial and economic crimes contemplated by the EFCC Act.”
He further drew the judge’s attention to Section 260 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, 2011.
“My Lord, the section states that an objection to the sufficiency of evidence shall not be raised until the close of the prosecution’s case,” he said.
The judge adjourned the matter till July 15 for ruling.
Onigbanjo dismissed a similar application filed by Dada’s counsel, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan.