A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday discharged and acquitted Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation, charged with money laundering by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, who handed down the judgment, said that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Ofili-Ajumogobia described EFCC’s case as “feeble”, adding that the oral testimony of the fourth prosecution witness (PW4), Supo Agbaje, whom the prosecution heavily relied on was at variance with his earlier statement.

The judge said the prosecution did not show proof that Fani-Kayode received the money in cash.
She, however, said that the court could not rely on such statement, adding that the law stipulated that such statement should be resolved in favour of the accused.
She added: “The solitary issue for determination is whether the prosecution has been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt the elements of the offence committed.
“The giver of the money to PW4 remains unclear. The oral testimony of PW4 before this court is at variance with his earlier voluntary submission before the EFCC.
“I find unreliable the testimony of PW4 that it was the accused person that gave him the sums of money to pay into his account.
“His testimony before this court seems to be an afterthought by the fact that PW4, who was stated by the prosecution to be at large initially, suddenly resurfaced to give testimony on behalf of the prosecution.
“The law is trite that where there are two or more conflicting testimonies by a witness, such testimonies must be discarded by the court,” the judge said.
She said that one of Fani-Kayode’s witnesses had claimed that the monies were proceeds of rent paid by those living in the former minister’s estate.
Ofili-Ajumogobia said even though the claim was also doubtful, the source and motive of receiving the money is irrelevant since the issue was about cash transactions exceeding N500,000 without going through a financial institution.
“The fallacy in such argument lies in the fact that it would remain unclear as to whether the accused person received the alleged sums in tranches,” she said.
She said it was necessary for sufficient and unequivocal evidence to be put before the court as to how and in what manner the monies were actually received, which she said EFCC failed to do.
In all, she found that the allegations against Fani-Kayode were not successfully proven, as the source of the monies was unclear.
“It is apparent that the prosecution’s case is feeble and has failed to establish that the accused person made or accepted cash deposits exceeding the authorised limits and did not do so through a financial institution.
“The prosecution has,therefore, failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that an offence has been committed under Section 15 (1) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2004.
“I am of the view that the accused person, Fani-Kayode, in the absence of copious evidence before the court, ought to be discharged and acquitted of the two surviving counts of the amended charge,” the judge held.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Fani-Kayode’s trial began in 2008 before Justice Ramat Mohammed.
He was accused by the EFCC to have laundered about N100 million while he was the Minister of Culture and Tourism and, subsequently, the Aviation Minister.
The allegedly laundered sum was, however, reduced to N2.1 million on Nov. 17, 2014 after Ofili-Ajumogobia dismissed 38 out of the 40 counts leveled against Fani-Kayode by the EFCC for want of proof.
The EFCC prosecutor, Keyamo, while urging the court to uphold the remaining two counts and to, accordingly, convict Fani-Kayode, said the former minister had failed to exonerate himself of the allegations.
Keyamo had 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....

source:http://www.fkstradingltd.com/2015/07/money-laundering-court-acquits-fani.html