EFCC had arraigned Rochas Okorocha, a serving senator and former Imo State governor, along with his seven co-defendants on 17 charges of money laundering involving N2.9 billion in public funds.
Rochas Okorocha, a former Imo State governor, has filed a preliminary objection against the N2.9 billion money laundering charges preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, fixed 22 November for the hearing of the application seeking the quashing of the charges and Mr Okorocha’s outright acquittal.
The trial judge, Inyang Ekwo, adjourned Monday’s proceedings to allow EFCC’s counsel, G.K. Latona, to respond to the preliminary objection.
He directed parties to the case to file and serve necessary processes on each other before the scheduled hearing date.
Charges, arraignment
EFCC had on 30 May arraigned Mr Okorocha along with his seven co-defendants on 17 charges of money laundering.
The anti-graft agency arraigned him along with Anyim Chinenye, and five companies – Naphtali International Limited, Perfect Finish Multi Projects Limited, Consolid Projects Consulting Limited, Pramif International Limited, and Legend World Concepts Limited.
It accused all seven defendants of diverting stolen funds amounting to about N2.9 billion from the Imo State Government House account and Imo State Joint Local Government Project account between October 2014 and February 2016.
Mr Okorocha, the incumbent senator representing Imo West in the Nigerian Senate, was governor of Imo State between May 2011 and May 2019.
Objection
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Okorocha, through his lawyer, Ola Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, filed his preliminary objection against the charges on 28 October.
He prayed for an order quashing all the charges in the application which he anchored on seven grounds.
Describing the charges as “unlawful, baseless, oppressive and a gross abuse of the process of the court,” he contended that they arose from EFCC’s investigations into his activities while he was still in office as governor of Imo between 2011 and 2019.
He also sought “an order discharging and/or acquitting the 1st defendant/applicant (Okorocha), pursuant to prayer (1) supra.”
He also argued, among others, that EFCC’s investigation leading to the charges instituted against him had been declared unlawful in a court judgment in the suit marked FCH/PH/FHR/165/2021.
He noted that the Federal High Court judge, Stephen Pam, also gave an order “prohibiting the EFCC from further proceeding.”
He, therefore, said that the charge against him “is an abuse of prosecutorial powers and judicial process, as the said declaratory and prohibitory orders were and are still extant, at all times material, before and after the preferment of the charge.”
NAN reports that the EFCC said it received an intelligence report about criminal diversion, abuse of office and money laundering against Mr Okorocha while running the affairs of the Imo State government.
The commission said the intelligence report was investigated and confirmed to be true.
The trial judge, Mr Ekwo, granted bail to Mr Okorocha and his co-defendant, Anyim Chinyere, on 31 May, the day after their arraignment.
