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The trial has been bugged down by a plethora of ‘talks’.
One year after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, arraigned the son of Bamanga Tukur, the Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP; trial is yet to commence.
Mahmud Tukur, alongside Alex Ochonogor, and their firm, Eterna Oil Plc, are facing a nine-count charge of fuel subsidy fraud amounting to N1.8 billion.
The defendants were arraigned in July 2012 before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja.
The EFCC later amended the charges to include Abdullahi Alao, son of billionaire businessman, Abdulazeez Arisekola-Alao.
The EFCC says the suspects fraudulently collected the money from the federal government as petrol subsidy without actually importing any petrol.
Since their arraignment, the matter has been bogged down by a plethora of applications and “talks.”
In December last year, Mr. Tukur’s lawyers told the judge that “out of court” settlement talks had begun between them and the EFCC.
However, one month later, the EFCC said that talks had “met a brick wall,” despite protests by the defence lawyers that talks were still ongoing.
The defendants pleaded for more time to conclude the negotiation.
In May, while filing an application challenging the jurisdiction of the Lagos High Court to try him, Mr. Tukur’s lawyers insisted that they were in talks with the prosecution.
But Rotimi Jacobs, the EFCC’s counsel, told the court that he was unaware of any discussion between both parties.
Mr. Jacobs was in court with the prosecution’s first witness.
“The instruction I have from my client is to go on with the case, except I receive further instruction,” Mr. Jacobs, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said.
Monday was slated for the hearing of the application by the defendants to quash the charges against them.
But the absence of the judge’s process files meant that the court could not sit.
Mr. Onigbanjo said that the files had been sent to the Chief Judge of the state over an “issue” involving another alleged subsidy fraudster.
“Some of these cases are interwoven,” the judge said.
“There was an issue that needed the case file to be forwarded to the Chief Judge. That party is not involved in this case.
“I can’t take arguments without having my process files. I have to adjourn hearing of this application,” the judge added.
Mr. Onigbanjo adjourned till September 18 for hearing of the defendants’ pending applications to quash the charges against them.
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