The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has asked an Abuja High Court to dismiss an application brought by the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, seeking an order to vacate a warrant of arrest order issued against him and five others in April 2019 by Justice Danlami Senchi.
Others are former Minister for Petroleum Resources Dan Etete, Ralph Wetzels, Casula Roberto, Pujjato Stefano, and Burrato Sebastiano.
The defendants are being charged for alleged fraudulent allocation of Oil Prospecting Licence, OPL 245 and OPL 214, and conspiracy, money laundering to the tune of $1.2billion, forging of bank accounts, bribery and corruption against Malabu oil and Gas Limited, Shell Nigeria Ultradeep (SNUD), Nigeria Agip Exploration (NAE).
Justice Senchi had on April 17, 2019, ordered the arrest warrant for failure of the defendants to appear before the court to answer charges preferred against them by the anti-graft agency.
At the resumed hearing of the case, Counsels to the defendants challenged the jurisdiction of the court on the ground that they have not been duly served.
They, therefore, urged the court to uphold the application of the defendants to set aside the bench warrant.
The prosecution counsel, Aliyu Yusuf, while responding on the issues raised by the defence, queried them on how they got to know about the charges. He referred to Section 113 of the ACJA 2015, which empowers a court to issue summons or arrest warrant to compel the appearance of a suspect accused of having committed an offence in any place whether within or outside Nigeria, in a state or in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
After listening to all the counsels, Justice Senchi told the counsels that a new date will be communicated to give a ruling on the application.
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