Mr. Festus Keyamo has sought the transfer of the money laundering charges preferred against former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, to another judge of the Federal High Court, Lagos for trial. The trial judge, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, therefore, on Monday, adjourned the matter sine die (indefinitely), pending the decision of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta on the transfer request. Keyamo has been prosecuting the case on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission since the matter was first filed in 2008. He had told Ofili-Ajumogobia on Monday that he wanted the case transferred from her because she had questioned his chamber’s authority to prosecute the case. Keyamo said he had written a letter, a copy of which he said was sent to the court, to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, requesting him to take away the case from Ofili-Ajumogobia and re-assign it to another judge. He said, “The Supreme Court has said it again and again that it is bizarre when a lawyer appears before a court and the judge asks ‘where is your letter?’. “The Supreme Court said it is bizarre for the court to ask that kind of question.” Keyamo informed the court of the letter he had written to the CJ after he disclosed that hehad received separate letters (fiat) from the Attorney-General of the Federation and the EFCC, affirming his authority to prosecute the case. “As a consequence of that, we have written a letter to the Honourable Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to transfer this matter fromthis court and to transfer it to another judge,”he said. He urged the court to apply her discretion on whether to suspend proceedings in the case pending the “advice of the CJ” or not. Ofili-Ajumogobia, who refused an application by Fani-Kayode’s counsel, Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), to strike out the case, adjourned sine die (indefinitely), to await the CJ’s decision on the request for transfer.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 12:58:29 +0000
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