A FEDERAL High Court in Abuja on Monday adjurned a case on an alleged money Laundering to June 26th, 2023 after it had summoned the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Managing Director, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad and four directors of a private companies.
The charges of breach of Public Procurement Act were pressed by Donnington Ltd against Velocity Logistics, Winslow Logistics, Equal Logistics, Sahams Crystal Investment, and Antaser Nig Ltd.
The charges were alleged to bother on infractions against the Money Laundering Act and, especially the non-declaration of the activities of their companies as specified under Sec 5 (1) (a) (I) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2011.
The other defendants are Alkali Habib (a Director in TAJ Bank), Edwin Iyk Anyadigibe, Abdulmumini Haruna and Innocent Nwobodo.
Ahmad and the rest are facing a 10 count-charge bordering on violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, including non-declaration of companies’ financial transactions.
Their alleged offences violated Section 5 (1) (a) (I) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2011, and punishable under Section 16 (2) (b) of the same Act.
Counsel to the defendants Victor Opara (SAN) said, “as far as we are concerned there is a purported charge filed before the court and our conception is that the whole charge as they were are totally incompetent and we have challenged the Jurisdiction of the court to entertain the charge as constituted, instituted and prosecuted.
“Based on the preliminary objection that we have raised, the court has adjurned the matter to June 26th to enable ln arguments of the notice of the preliminary objection.
Counsel to the complainant Ugbede Idachaba said the defendants filed notice of preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of this Honorable court, because of the subsisting Preliminary objection the matter was adjurned by the court to 26th June, 2023 for arraignment, “the matter was slated for arraignment and specifically for hearing”
The presiding judge Justice James Kolawole adjourned the cases to 26th of June 2023.
This non compliance is punishable under Section 16 (2) (b) of the same Act.
Background
The MD/CEO of the Rural Electrification Agency, Mr. Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, who is also the Director of Velocity Logistics, and four other directors and their companies: Winslow Logistics(Alkali Habib), Equal Logistics(Edwin Iyk Anyadigibe), Sahams Crystal Investment (Abdulmumini Haruna) and Antaser Nig Ltd (Innocent Nwobodo) were to be arraigned for money laundering and breach of public procurement law, in relation to the multi-billion Naira Cargo Tracking Note Contract on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
The above charged companies were designated as Non-Financial Businesses and Professions, otherwise known as DNFBPs.
They and their Directors violated the Anti-money laundering act in place to prevent financial crimes, terrorism financing and various illicit finances with Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering(SCUML), a department in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in charge of ensuring compliance.
A case like no other, it’s the first time in Nigeria’s history a company or individual would draw prosecutorial power from the 2022 decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of RAPHAEL OBIJIAKU V CHIEF JOE OBIJIAKU & 2 ORS (2022) 17 NWLR (PT. 1857) 377 at 405 Paras E- F, which empowers private citizens to institute and prosecute crimes of any kind.
The genesis of the issue is that Donnington Limited on request got Executive Directive from President Muhammadu Buhari to take up the newly introduced Cargo Tracking Note aimed at securing seaports and shore against all forms of crimes from terrorism, shipments of illegal weapons, other sharp practices and also generate revenue for the federal government.
At the President’s instance, the Executive Directive was validated by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who on the recommendation of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) also approved that the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources should engage a competent consultant to undertake the ACD/CTN on behalf of the federal government.
It was at that juncture of engagement by the federal government that the company bought equipment/items and recruited staff as well as set up a portal which was dedicated for the reintroduction of Cargo Tracking Scheme and engaged foreign partners from the United Kingdom and Dubai, UAE namely: Messrs Vortex Limited, UK and DP World, UAE, who came to Nigeria on three occasions to make presentations at an immeasurable expense.
To its greatest surprise, notwithstanding the company’s financial commitment to the project and satisfying all the legal procurement requirements the Bureau of Public Procurement refused the company Certificate of No-Objection, in defiance of the Attorney-General’s directive.
Instead the BPP Director-General issued the No-Objection Certificates to the five companies that were not in the picture from inception.
By that act, the contract was usurped from Donnington and to add insult to the injury of its Director(s) without communication.
It may interest you to know that those companies and their Directors are not direct beneficiaries of the ill-gotten contract but are proxies of some persons in government; three ministers, two presidential aides, a prominent government official from North-East and a governor from North-West.
It is most pertinent to add that the Bureau of Public Procurement erred in awarding those companies Certificate of No-Objection in many ways.
First, they all are in breach of public procurement act, with one of them, the Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency and Director of Velocity Logistics, Engr Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad also breaking the Public service rule as it’s illegal for government officials to engage in private business except agriculture.
The other Directors including Ahmad equally broke the Anti-money laundering law in respect of SCUML as four of them failed to register their companies with the Anti-money laundering watchdog as required by the law governing the operation of non-financial businesses, while all are guilty of failing to report their cash inflows and outflows in excess of N5m and N10m for individual Directors and businesses respectively.
The interesting thing about this SCUML issue Donnington has against the defendants; is that it is what the federal government is relying on to dodge payment of $11billion judgment debt, a London court awarded Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) Ltd against Nigeria.
Nigeria cannot condone contraventions of the Money Laundering Act and non-compliance with statutory provisions by company directors chasing government contracts, while at the same time complaining that the contract P&ID Ltd (a foreign firm) is seeking to enforce against her was gotten through dishonest means, without due process.