Money laundering: EFCC tenders 19 statements against Ikuforiji

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday tendered 19 statements before a Federal High Court in Lagos in the money laundering charges preferred against the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji.

The statements, tendered through an operative of the EFCC, Adebayo Adeniyi, at the commencement of trial, were authored by Ikuforiji, some of  his colleagues in the Lagos Assembly and other individuals interrogated by the agency in the course of investigating a petition against Ikuforiji in June 2011.

Adeniyi, the first prosecution witness and a member of the investigation team, was  silent on the author of the petition. He did not also give any indication of the content of the statements.

Two of the statements were made by Ikuforiji and another two by his co-accused, Oyebode Atoyebi.

Members of the House of Assembly whose statements were also admitted as exhibits are John Ajibola, Akande Lola, Bolaji Yusuf Ayinla, Kolawole Musibau, Abiru Rotimi and Abdurrazaq Balogun.

Statements of civil servants, who are key officers of the House, were also part of the 19 admitted by the court.

The civil servants are Adewale Olatunji, Ganiyu Abiru, Toyin Atekoja, Latona Folashade, Tijani Maruf and Lambo Abosede.

The admissibility of the statements was not objected to by the defence team led by Tayo Oyetibo, SAN.

Led by the EFCC prosecuting counsel, Godwin Obla, the witness said his team also obtained documents from officials of the Lagos State House of Assembly and some members of the Assembly.

"We also obtained some of the documents from the Clerk of the House of Assembly. The documents comprise cash release vouchers, minutes relating to payments, and payment confirmation list," Adeniyi said.

He was in the process of tendering a bunch of documents described as cash register, when Obla noted that although it was certified, the documents were not properly paginated.

Obla therefore sought for an adjournment to enable the prosecution to tidy up the documents, a request the presiding judge, Justice Okechukwu Okeke, granted.

The judge has fixed November  6 for continuation of trial.

The EFCC had preferred 20 counts of money laundering against Ikuforiji and his Personal Assistant, Atoyebi, accusing them of accepting cash payments from the Assembly to the tune of N501m without going through any financial institution.