FOREIGN ACCOUNTS: TINUBU FREED
•Former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu
jubilating after the Code of Conduct Tribunal quashed charges against him in Abuja, Wednesday.
The Code of Conduct Tribunal yesterday quashed the three-count charge preferred against former Lagos State governor, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu by the Federal Government for being defective in nature.
He was charged before the tribunal for allegedly operating 16 foreign bank accounts between 1999 and 2007 while he served as governor.
But ruling on Tinubu's application challenging the competence of the charges as well as the jurisdiction of the tribunal to try him in Abuja, Chairman of the Tribunal, Danladi Yakubu Umar agreed with the lead counsel to the former governor, Chief Wole Olanikpekun [SAN] that the charges were indeed defective and incompetent.
Umar accordingly quashed the entire amended charges after holding that they did not establish a prima facie case against the accused person. But in a swift reaction, the prosecution counsel from the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Ismaila Sani informed the tribunal of the intention of his client to appeal against the judgment.
Governors Babatunde Fashola (Lagos State), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun State) and Ibikunle Amosun [Ogun State] led other top politicians to the tribunal including Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora and Abike Dabiri. Before arriving at its decision, the tribunal picked holes in the amended charges to the effect that the charges were not brought properly before the tribunal.
'The amended charge was not properly brought before us. It was supposed to be subjected to our analysis to determine whether or not a prima facie case has been established against the accused person. 'The leave which the tribunal gave for the preferring of charges against the accused person only relates to the original one-count charge which has since been withdrawn but not the present amended charge. 'It amounted to an ambush against the accused person and the court and where a court discovered that the process has been abused, the proper order to make is to dismiss the case. The charge here is an abuse and it is hereby dismissed.'
'No proof of evidence was attached to the amended charge or summary of affidavit evidence. How on earth will the tribunal determine whether a prima facie case has been established against the accused person?
'The amended charge did not adduce evidence that the accused has been operating the foreign accounts by proxies or trustees but that he personally operates the accounts. It is the law that the arguments of counsel no matter how brilliant cannot take the place of pleadings.
'In the circumstances, I hold that no prima facie case has been made against the accused person. The non-filling of affidavit evidence affects the entire three-count charge and it is hereby quashed and the accused person is discharged.
The tribunal had earlier dismissed the objections of Tinubu against its jurisdiction to hear the matter in Abuja, saying as a single tribunal its jurisdiction is nationwide.
On the issue of the complainant not following condition precedent before preferring the charges against Tinubu, the tribunal also agreed with Tinubu that condition precedent was not followed. According to the tribunal 'the filling of the charge without first of all inviting the accused person makes the charge defective because the condition precedent under section 3 [d] of the Code of Conduct Bureau Act was not complied with. 'It is proper for me at this stage to decline jurisdiction to hear the case because the condition precedent has not been complied with by the complainant.
'The accused person has vehemently denied that the claim by the complainant that he was invited by the Bureau. Since the complainant has conceded that the Bureau ought to have invited him, the condition precedent has not been met. And before this court, the complainant has not placed any evidence to show that the Bureau had invited the accused person on several occasions as alleged.
Furthermore, the tribunal held that the trial of Tinubu amounted to an abuse of the court process since a similar case against him filed since 2007 is still pending before the Court of Appeal and has not been withdrawn.
Speaking after the verdict, an elated national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN] described the whole trial as a waste of public fund targeted to rubbish his hard earned reputation.
He lamented that he had lost some goodwill from business associates in the course of the needless trial.
Tinubu who thanked the tribunal for its courage and team of lawyers and supporters said 'How many years since I left office? How many years has it taken them to do investigations to verify all the details instead of tarnishing the image I built professionally over the years?
'After office there is life. After public office, there must be opportunities to do other jobs, to enter into business partnership or whatever I chose to do. They have ruined many of that in the process. I salute the courage of the tribunal. They showed that in this country if you have many like them who would uphold the value of justice and not determined by influence of corruption, the judiciary would indeed be the last hope of the common man.
'In fact, the Attorney General of the Federation shouldn't have taken this case to court. Who is paying the bill of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria [SAN], Dr. Alex Inzinyon? The public should ask questions.'