Alleged N1.6bn Money Laundering: Jonathan’s Former Aide, One Other Ask Court To Free Them

A former Senior Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Domestic Affairs, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to discharge and acquit him.

His Co-defendant, Iwejuo Joseph Nna also made a similar request.

In June 2013, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned Dudafa and Iwejuo Joseph Nna before Justice Mohammed Idris on 23-counts of conspiracy to conceal proceeds of crime amounting to over N1.6billion.

The EFCC said Dudafa allegedly used his position as the SSA to the former president to confer unfair advantage on himself “by enriching himself with huge sums of money which are warehoused and fraudulently concealed in the various accounts managed by the second defendant on behalf of the applicant.”

But in a ‘no case submission’ application moved by Dudafa‘s lawyer Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), the defendant contended that the EFCC’s case against him was watery.

“We urge your lordship to hold that no case has been made out against the first defendant to warrant his being asked to enter a defence,” Oyewole said.

The SAN also argued that the monies Dudafa was accused of laundering was given to him by his bosses, adding that there was no evidence the funds were stolen.

“The first defendant has stated the source of the money. He was an aide. And there is nothing to show that the money came from a criminal source,” Oyewole said.

The second defendant’s lawyer, Ige Asemudara similarly faulted the prosecution’s claim that the money was allegedly obtained by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) based on an instruction letter from the former National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).

“Nothing was tendered showing that the money Dasuki requested left the CBN. There must be a debit note to show that the money left. In the absence of that, it cannot be said that there was a crime,” he said.

The second defendant counsel also argued that his client, a bank branch manager in Yenegoa, the Bayelsa State capital, had no link to the companies in whose accounts the money was kept.

“These monies were in the ordinary books of the bank and were not hidden under a pillow. If indeed there was concealment, it must be by the bank and not the branch manager who is an employee. The accounts were accessible so the issue of concealment could not have arisen. We urge your Lordship to discharge the second defendant on all the counts,” Asemudara said.

But, the EFCC counsel Nnaemeka Omenwa argued that the prosecution, through its seven witnesses and exhibits tendered, had made out a prima facie case against the defendants to require them to enter their defence.

He said there was evidence that Dudafa asked Nna to raise drafts in respect of the monies, adding that it was Nna who signed on the companies’ accounts.
“The evidence on record shows clearly that the first defendant was appointed by the Federal Government as a the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Domestic/Household and Social Events between 2012 and 2015.

“The evidence on record shows that in the course of this service, huge sums of money which are not the first defendant’s salary and allowances were traced to the accounts which he procured the second defendant to open, maintain and operate in fictitious names.

“The second defendant, who at the material time was the Branch manager in Yenogoa branch of Heritage Bank, acceded to the request of the first defendant and agreed with him to conceal these funds in the accounts opened in the name of Seagate Property Development and Investment Ltd, Avalon Global Property Development Company Ltd, Ebiwise Resources, Pluto Property and Investment Company Ltd, Rotato Interlink Services Ltd and De Jakes Fast Food and Restaurant Nigeria Ltd.”

“It is our humble submission that the defendants’ agreement or the meeting of the minds of the defendants to conceal the funds in the accounts where the second defendant must of necessity assume the identity of other persons is a clear manifestation of the defendants’ conspiracy to carry out an unlawful act of concealing proceeds of unlawful act.

“We, therefore, urge my lord to hold that the prosecution has made out a case of conspiracy against the defendants as alleged in counts 1,” the EFCC said.

Justice Mohammed Idris subsequently adjourned till July 6 for a ruling on the ‘no-case submission’.

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