Ondo PDP chieftains trial: Defence calls for trial-within-trial

Defence counsel Thursday urged a Federal High Court in Lagos to order a trial-within-trial in a case against two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Clement Faboyede and Modupe Adetokunbo.

Faboyede, the Ondo state chairman of the PDP, and Adetokunbo, the Director-General of the party’s 2015 Campaign Organisation in the state, are charged with money laundering.

They are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over alleged N500 million money laundering.

The EFCC arraigned Faboyede and Adetokunbo on June 29, 2018, on three-count charge bordering on money laundering.

They both pleaded not guilty to the charge and were granted bail in the sum of N50 million each.

When trial resumed Thursday, the second prosecution witness, Mr Usman Zakari, was led in evidence by the prosecutor, Mr Mohammed Idris.

The witness, an operative with the EFCC, who said he had been with the commission for 14 years, testified that he engaged in the investigation of the defendants.

He said that sometime in April 2015, the commission received an intelligence report that the defendants received the sum of N500 million in the build up to the 2015 general election.

He said that payment receipts also revealed that the first and second defendants received the cash on March 27, 2015.

According to him, based on this, a letter of invitation was sent to the defendants for interview in December 2016.

He said that the defendants honoured the invitation and reported to the commission on Dec. 8, 2016, and an interview was held with them in the presence of an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Kayode.

He said that during the interview, the defendants were shown payment receipts, and they both identified their signatures, residential addresses and phone numbers.

The witness said that the defendants were subsequently cautioned with words in the presence of Kayode before their statements were obtained.

He urged the court to note that the defendants did not present any financial instruments for the withdrawal of the sums, adding that the monies did not emanate from any of the defendants.

When the prosecutor asked the witness if he would be able to identify the defendants’ statements, he replied, “Yes”.

Prosecution then sought to tender the statements of the defendants in evidence but and defence counsel, Mr Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), raised an objection.

He said that the defence objected to the admissibility of the statements in the name of the first defendant with the following dates: Dec.9, 2016; Dec.14, 2016; Jan.10, 2017; Feb.14, 2017; May 31, 2017; Jan.24, 2018 ; March 22, 2018, and March 28, 2018.

He said that the objection was on the grounds that the statements were involuntarily made, and violated the provisions of Section 29(2/(a) of the Evidence Act.

He, however, did not object to the statements of Dec. 8, 2016, and May 23, 2018.

For the second defendant, defence counsel also objected to the statements made on Dec.13, 2016; Dec.14, 2016; Jan.10, 2017; and May 23, 2018, also on grounds of involuntariness.

He said that they contravened the provisions of Section 29 of the Evidence Act.

He did not object to the statement made on Dec. 8, 2016.

Defence counsel, therefore, sought an order of the court for a trial-within-trial, so as to test the voluntariness of the statements for which the objection was raised.

Continuation of trial will be on May 16.

The EFCC had alleged that the defendants committed the offences on March 27, 2015.

The commission said that they conspired to accept cash payments 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). (NAN)

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