At the resumed trial of the Lagos State House of Assembly’s Speaker, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, and his aide, Mr. Oyebode Atoyebi, for alleged of money laundering, the defence counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun(SAN) and Mr. Tunde Akinrinmisi, described the EFCC’s investigation and prosecution of the two accused persons as a witch-hunt.

The two defence counsel made  this submissions at the end of a long cross- examination of the EFCC witness, Mr.  Adebayo Adeniyi, on Thursday at a Federal High Court in Lagos.

Adeniyi had told the court that he was a Principal Detective Superintendent of the EFCC.

He said he was the officer assigned to investigate the financial transactions of the Lagos State House of Assembly under the leadership of Ikuforiji.

During the cross-examination, Adeniyi had affirmed that the investigation of the two accused was predicated on a petition received on June 16, 2011 from an organisation called Anti-Corruption Vanguard.

He said the petition was signed by one Comrade Eleya Olootu, but admitted that he had never met Olootu.

He added that the organisation’s address was not on the petition and when asked if he knew the  office address of the petitioner, he said he did not know.

Olanipekun asked if the EFCC entertained petitions from anonymous persons or bodies, Adebayo said commission received petitions  from any complainant, known or anonymous.

In the document, it was alleged that Ikuforiji was a two-time ex-convict in the US.

It alleged that the Speaker diverted money through an automobile company to purchase properties overseas.

Olanipekun asked if Adeniyi had visited or made any effort, in the course of his investigations, to contact the US courts where Ikuforiji was allegedly convicted, the witness said he did not know.

Adeniyi admitted that there was no proof of evidence presented before the court that gave a proof of the money diversion to the US.

Olanipekun directed Adeniyi to several portions of the exhibits where several sums had been collected and signed for by different officers of the House of Assembly but where only Ikuforiji had been mentioned in the charge.

He asked Adeniyi if the others, who collected money and signed were also investigated, the witness said his assignment was basically to investigate Ikuforiji, explaining that he had not investigated other lawmakers since Ikuforiji was the leader of the Assembly.

-Punch

Posted by admin on Jun 5 2014. Filed under EFCC Politics, Headlines, Lagos, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry