A Federal High Court in Lagos, on Monday, fixed Jan. 8, 2019 for hearing in a case against two Ondo State chieftains of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Clement Faboyede, the state PDP Chairman and Modupe Adetokunbo, the Director-General of the party’s 2015 Campaign Organisation in the state, are facing charges of money laundering.
Faboyede and Adetokunbo were dragged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged N500 million money laundering.
The EFCC arraigned the accused persons, who allegedly committed the offences on March 27, 2015, on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering on June 29.
They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution accused them of conspiring to accept cash payment of the sum of N500 million, which exceeded the amount allowed by law, without going through any financial institution.
According to the prosecution, the offences contravene the provisions of sections 16, 16 (2) and 18 of the Money Laundering (prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended by Act No.1 of 2012).
Faboyede and Adetokunbo were granted bail in the sum of N50 million each.
Mr George Chia-Yakua, who announced appearance for the prosecution, informed the court that this was a preliminary hearing of an objection challenging the court’s jurisdiction to hear the case.
Chia-Yakua, however, said the prosecution was ready to proceed, subject to the court’s convenience.
On his part, the defence counsel, Mr Abubakar Shamsudeen, told the court that his office only received a response to his preliminary objection from the prosecution on Friday.
Shamsudeen, therefore, requested that the court grant an adjournment to enable him peruse the prosecution’s response and respond where necessary.The prosecution did not object to the request and following the consensus of both parties, the court adjourned the case until Jan.8 for hearing.
