Money Laundering: Court Allows EFCC to Separate Nnamani’S Trial
A Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, has granted an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking to separate the trial of a former governor of Enugu State, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, from other defendants in a money laundering suit filed against him.
Nnamani, who is seeking a return to the Senate under the platform of the People for Democratic Change (PDC), representing Enugu East Senatorial District, has been on trial since 2007.
The anti-graft agency had, in the application, urged the court to separate Nnamani from other accused persons, so that his frequent medical trips abroad would no longer stall the trial of other accused persons.
Justice Mohammed Yunusa, while granting the application on Tuesday, agreed with the applicant that there was a need for the separation of the trial, to avoid further delay in the determination of the matter.
The separation, according to the judge, would also not run contrary to the spirit of the Practice Direction of the Federal High Court rules. After the ruling, EFCC’s lawyer, Kevin Uzozie, requested for an adjournment to enable the body regularise the processes to reflect the latest development. Further hearing in the matter has been adjourned till May 11 for mention.
In the application, brought pursuant to Section 155 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 2004, the EFCC prayed the court to allow the trial of Nnamani and his former aide, Sunday Onyekazur Anyaogu, to be conducted separately from the six companies charged along with them.
