Godwin Tsa Abuja

Barring any last minute change, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, will be arraigned by the Federal Government over alleged money laundering today.

The government had filled a seven-count charge against Mr. Adoke before the Abuja division of the Federal High Court.

Adoke, who is the only defendant in  the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/39/2017, is accused of money laundering estimated at about N1.7 billion.

Part of the charge signed by Bala Sanga of the EFCC reads: “That you Mohammed Bello Adoke, sometime in September 2013, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this court, accepted as payment the sum of US Dollars equivalent to N300,000,000.00 from Abubakar Aliyu, and you thereby committed an offence as specified under section 1 (a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 (as amended) and punishable under section 16 (2)(b) of the same Act.

“That you Mohammed Bello Adoke, sometime in September 2013, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this court, made a payment of a sum of US Dollars equivalent to N367,318,800.00 to one Usman Mohammed Bello, and you thereby committed an offence as specified under section 1(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 (as amended) and punishable under section 16 (2)(b) of the same Act.

“That you Mohammed Bello Adoke, sometime in September 2013, in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the court, used the total sum of N300,000,000.00 when you knew that the said funds formed part of your unlawful activities to wit: payment of an amount exceeding stated threshold amounts outside a financial Institution and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15 (2) (d) and punishable under section 15 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended).

“That you Mohammed Bello Adoke on or about September 13, 2013, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this court, did cause to be made a structured cash payment in 13 tranches of  a sum of money totaling N50,000,000.00 into your Unity Bank Plc Account No. 0020153263, which sums you knew is part of an unlawful act, to wit: the payment of an amount exceeding stated threshold amounts outside a financial institution, intending to conceal the origins of the said funds, contrary to section 15 (2 )(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 as amended and punishable under section 15 (3) of the same Act.

In a related development, the  Federal Government equally filed a fresh 42-count charge against  Mr. Adoke and six others over alleged fraud in the $1.1 billion Malabu oil deal.

The government in a document with charge number CR/151/2020, filed at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, accused Mr. Adoke and others of receiving gratification with the intent of  carrying out a fraudulent oil deal.

According to the government, as Attorney-General, Adoke mediated controversial agreements that ceded Oil Prospective Licence (OPL) 245 to Shell Petroleum and Eni Agip who in turn paid about $1.1 billion dollars to accounts controlled by an ex-convict and former petroleum minister,Mr. Dan Etete.

Adoke, who left the country in 2015 after the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan, returned to the country on December 19, 2019 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, having been extradited by Interpol and handed over to the EFCC at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Adoke was accused by the EFCC of allegedly  abusing his  office and for money laundering in respect of the granting of the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 245 to Shell and ENI.

In the charge dated January 14, 2020 and filed on the January 15, the Federal Government also charged Rasky Gbinigie, A. Abubakar, Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited, Shell Ultra Deep Limited and Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Limited.

According to the charge, the former AGF in August 2013 in Abuja, while serving as a minister knowingly received US Dollars equivalent of N300million which is reasonably suspected of having been unlawfully obtained and thereby committed offence punishable under Section 319A of the Penal Code, Cap. 532laws of the federation of Nigeria 1990.