The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has discharged and acquitted Abuja-based businessman Aliyu Abubakar and seven others of charges of money laundering, criminal misappropriation, forgery, and others related to the management of Malabu Oil and Gas Limited’s funds.
In two separate judgments on Thursday, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the prosecuting agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), failed to prove the offences alleged in the two charges, which together contained 53 counts.
The first verdict concerned a 43-count case, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/268/2016, in which Abubakar was tried alongside Malabu Oil and six other companies.
Justice Ekwo held that the EFCC erred in proceeding to prosecute the defendants on the charge after the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) issued a 2018 letter directing that the defendants should not be prosecuted because there was insufficient evidence to warrant it.
The second judgment was based on the 10-count charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/31/2017, in which Abubakar remains the sole defendant after a former AGF, Mohammed Adoke, who was earlier listed as the first defendant, was freed by the court when his no-case submission was upheld in a ruling delivered on April 19, 2024.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC had re-arraigned Mr Abubakar, and seven firms, before in connection with alleged fraudulent $1bn transaction concerning the controversial Oil Processing Lease 245.
The defendants were earlier arraigned on 48 counts of money laundering, but an amendment saw the charges increased to 67.
Malabu Oil and Gas Limited is named in the case as the first defendant, while Abubakar, is the eighth defendant.
The other defendants are A-Group Construction Company Limited, Rocky Top Resources Limited, Mega Tech Engineering Limited, Novel Properties and Development Company Limited, imperial Union Limited and Carlin International Nigeria Limited.
In one of the counts, the prosecution alleged that Malabu Oil, and two of its directors, said to be on the run – Seidougha Munamuna and Dauzia Etete – “took control of the sum of $40,540,000” allegedly paid from the Federal Government’s Escrow Account with JP Morgan Chase Bank in London into Malabu Oil’s account with First Bank of Nigeria Limited.
The EFCC said the defendants “reasonably ought to have known that the funds formed part of the an unlawful activity” of “negotiation, signing and payment in respect of the Block 245 Resolution Agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria with Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited, and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited.”
The commission also alleged that “taxes, accruals and royalties to the Federal Government of Nigeria were unlawfully waived” in the transactions.
The prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Bala Sanga, said the defendants acted contrary to Section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 (as amended) and were liable to punishment under Section 15(3) and 15(4) of the same Act.
Abubakar was also accused of using his companies, some of which are named as defendants in the case, to receive funds which were proceeds from the Malabu Oil deal.