N4.9B Money Laundering: Judge Turned Down Request To Meet Lawyer In Private

Justice Muslim Sule Hassan of a Federal High Court in Lagos who is the presiding judge in the trial of Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Aviation minister and two others over N4.9billion alleged money laundering charge, on Monday turned down request by defence counsel to meet with him in private

At the resumption of the trial on Monday, counsel to Fani-Kayode, Norrisson Quakers (SAN) told the court that he had an application to meet with the judge together with the prosecutor because he would want to discuss certain issue on the matter which is not for public consumption.

According to the lawyer, there were ‘facts’ in the application which could embarrass the court if he said them openly.

The senior lawyer had earlier told the court that he was just coming into the matter, saying he was briefed by his client on Sunday night and needed time to prepare for the case.

Quakers is taking over from Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), who represented Fani-Kayode when he was arraigned.

But EFCC’s prosecutor, M.I Anana objected the application, saying he had his witness in court and urged the court to allow the trial to continue.

Ruling on the matter, Justice Hassan declined to grant the application and adjourned the matter till Tuesday.

Fani-Kayode,Nenadi Usman, a former finance minister and one Danjuma Yusuf were on June 28 arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on the alleged offence.

The anti-graft agency had preferred a 17 count charge on unlawful retention, unlawful use and unlawful payment of the said money.