The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday filed a fresh charge against an ex-aide of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Adeyanju Bodunde, before Justice Adamu Bello of a Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged involvement in the $180m Halliburton bribery scam.
But counsel to the accused, Mr. Oluwole Aladeloye, raised an objection as to the competence of the charge just before the accused could take his plea.
He argued that the amended charge was defective, adding that he had file an application challenging it.
According to him, the accused cannot enter plea until the application is heard and resolved by the court.
Justice Bello therefore adjourned the matter till June 22 to hear the motion on notice opposing the amended charge.
The EFCC had on October 13, 2010 slammed a five-count criminal charge against Bodunde to which he had pleaded not guilty after which his lawyer prayed the court to admit him to bail on the ground that the offence was bailable and that the accused would not jump bail.
The court had admitted the accused to bail in the sum of N1m with a surety in like sum.
The surety must be a respected citizen who lives in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the court.
But lawyer to the commission, Mr. Godwin Obla, had later brought an application to withdraw the earlier charge filed against the accused and substituted it with another one dated October 5, 2010.
During the last adjourned date, the prosecution also withdrew the October 5, 2010 charge and substituted it with amended charge dated February 16, 2011.
The former charge had read, “That you, Adeyanju Bodunde sometime between 2002 and 2003, within the jurisdiction of this court did accept cash payment in the sum of $1m from one George Mark and thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 1 and 15(d0 of the Money Laundering Act, 2004 and punishable under Section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering Act, 2004.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
Home
Unlabelled
$180m Halliburton scam: EFCC files suit against OBJ's ex-aide
$180m Halliburton scam: EFCC files suit against OBJ's ex-aide
NigerianEye
-
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com