Court clears Fani-Kayode of money Laundering Charges

A Federal High Court in Lagos in south-
west Nigeria has discharged and
acquitted a former Minister of Aviation,
Femi Fani-Kayode, of money laundering
charges.
Delivering her judgement on Wednesday,
the judge, Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, said
the prosecution’s case was “feeble” and
failed to provide “copious evidence”
linking Mr Fani-Kayode to money
laundering.
After the judgement, Mr Fani-Kayode
told reporters that the verdict was the
“doing of the lord” and an end to a
nightmare.
Want Of Proof
Mr Fani-Kayode, trial began in 2008
before Justice Ramat Mohammed, after
the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) filed a case against
him for allegedly laundering about 100
million Naira (about $500,000) while he
was the Minister of Culture and Tourism
and subsequently, Aviation.
The allegedly laundered sum was,
however, reduced to 2.1 million Naira on
November 17, 2014 after the court
dismissed 38 of the 40-count charge
levelled against Mr Fani-Kayode for
want of proof .
The anti-graft agency’s prosecutor,
Festus Keyamo, at that time urged the
court to uphold the remaining two
counts and to also convict Mr Fani-
Kayode, as he could not exonerate
himself of the allegations.
Mr Keyamo said: “The object of the
charge is that Mr Fani-Kayode
transacted in cash sums above 500,000
Naira, which was the threshold
stipulated by the Money Laundering
(Prohibition) Act”.
He had argued that Mr Fani-Kayode
admitted making such transactions in
his confessional statement made to the
anti-graft agency on December 22,
2008.
‘Proven Beyond Doubts’
According to him, “transactions which
are done without going through
financial institutions, is what comes
under the definition of money
laundering” and these are the charges
against the accused person.
“Once you cannot explain the source of
the large sum of money found on you,
you are guilty of money laundering. If
the prosecution must show where the
money is coming from, then the whole
essence of the money laundering law is
defeated.
“It is not in all cases that the burden
of proof lies on the prosecution; the
burden at this point shifts to the
accused person,” Mr Keyamo further
argued.
However, a counsel to Mr Fani-Kayode,
Ifedayo Adedipe, in his summary
argument, maintained that Mr Fani-
Kayode made no confession to the EFCC,
as claimed.
He argued that the anti-graft agency
failed to show that Mr Fani-Kayode
accepted a cash sum of one million Naira
as alleged, claiming that the EFCC also
failed to show to the court the person
who handed the cash sum to the accused
person.
Mr Adedipe further stated that for the
case of the prosecution to succeed, it
had to be proven beyond reasonable
doubts.