LAGOS – A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday fixed June 18 for judgment in the trial of a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, charged with money laundering.
Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia fixed the judgment following the adoption of final written addresses and arguments by the counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the accused.
Fani-Kayode, whose trial began in 2008 before Justice Ramat Mohammed, was accused by the EFCC of laundering about N100 million while he was the Minister of Culture and Tourism and later, the Minister of Aviation.
The laundered sum was, however, reduced to N2.1 million on November 17, 2014 after Ofili-Ajumogobia had dismissed 38 of the 40 counts leveled against Fani-Kayode by the EFCC for want of proof.
At the resumed trial of the case on Monday, the EFCC prosecutor, Mr Festus Keyamo, urged the court to uphold the remaining two counts and to, accordingly, convict Fani-Kayode.
He said the former minister had failed to exonerate himself of the allegations.
Keyamo pointed out that the object of the charge was that Fani-Kayode transacted in cash sums above N500,000 which was the threshold stipulated by the Money Laundering Act.
He said that Fani-Kayode had personally admitted making such transactions in his confessional statement of December 22, 2008 to the EFCC.
fani kayode
