Alleged money laundering: Ikuforiji, personal assistant to stand trial Oct. 17
Ikuforiji, speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly is standing trial alongside Atoyebi, on an
amended 56-count charge bordering on the alleged offence.
The case, which was fixed for the prosecution to open its
case, could not go on, due to the absence of judges, who are said to be away
for the annual judges conference.
A new date, October 17 and 18, was therefore fixed for the
trial.
It will be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, had on June 24, re-arraigned the accused before Justice
Ibrahim Buba, following the retirement of Justice Okechukwu Okeke, the former
trial judge.
This led to the case beginning afresh before Buba, who
becomes the second trial judge to hear the matter.
The accused had, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge,
and were granted N1 billion bail each, with two sureties each, in the sum of
N500 million.
According to the charge, the accused were alleged to have
conspired between April 2010 and July 2011, to commit the offences.
They were alleged to have illegally accepted cash payments
amounting to N273,303,780 million from the LAHA, without going through a
financial institution.
Ikuforiji was also alleged to have used his position to
misappropriate N500 million of LAHA funds.
The offence is said to contravene the provisions of Section
18(a), of the money laundering (prohibition) Act, 2011.
It attracts a term of
not less than five years imprisonment upon conviction.
NAN reports that substantive trial will begin on October 17.
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