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Abuja Court Orders EFCC To Remove AIT Founder, Raymond Dokpesi From Watchlist
The Chief Decide of the Federal Excessive Court docket, Justice John Tsoho has ordered the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee, EFCC, to take away the founding father of the African Unbiased Tv AIT, Chief Raymond Dokpesi from its watch record.
Justice Tsoho held that there was no justification for the anti-graft company to proceed to maintain Dokpesi on the watchlist since there isn’t a felony expenses or allegations pending towards him.
Ruling in an software filed and argued by his counsel, Mr Kanu Agabi, SAN, the Chief Decide stated that holding Dokpesi on the watch record will quantity to disobedience to the Court docket of Attraction judgment which in April this 12 months quashed the N2.1B cash laundering expenses towards him.
The Court docket of Attraction sitting in Abuja had on April 1, this 12 months dismissed the N2.1 billion naira cash laundering expenses filed towards Dokpesi by the EFCC.
The court docket upheld the no-case submission filed by Dokpesi and DAAR Communications within the seven-count felony cost.
Within the judgment, Justice Elfreda Oyebisi Williams-Dawodu had held that the anti-graft company, the EFCC failed to determine a prima facie case towards Mr. Dokpesi within the expenses.
The appellate court docket had held that the components of the offences weren’t supplied by the prosecution as required by regulation.
The court docket had agreed with counsel to the appellant, Kanu Agabi that being a predicate offence, the components of the offences towards his shopper should be clearly supplied, including that it’s clear that not one of the offences was established consistent with provisions of the Nigerian legal guidelines.
The court docket had additional held that EFCC did not show that the N2.1 billion allegedly obtained by the appellant as fee was a proceed of breach of belief.
A federal excessive court docket in Abuja had in November 2018 dismissed the no-case submission filed Dokpesi on the grounds {that a} prima facie had been established towards him by the EFCC within the alleged N2.1B cash laundering.
Not happy with the ruling of the excessive court docket, Dokpesi approached the Court docket of Attraction and requested that the ruling of the decrease court docket be put aside and his no-case submission be upheld.
Justice William-Dowodu in a unanimous judgment on April 1, 2021, held that there was nothing within the proof of the 14 witnesses referred to as by EFCC to influence the court docket to compel the appellant to enter a defence within the expenses the place components of the offence weren’t supplied.
