The Ikeja special offences court has directed the Managing Director of First Nation Airways Limited, Kayode Odukoya, to resume his defence in the N1.7 billion fraud case filed against him.
The spokesperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Wilson Uwujaren, disclosed this via a statement on Monday.
The antigraft agency had arraigned Odukoya alocgside First Nation Airways Limited and Bellview Airlines Limited on a seven-count charge.
The charges were bordering on forgery, use of false document, perjury, stealing and obtaining credit by fraud contrary to sections 85(1), 86(1), 278(1)&(b), 285(1), 313(1)(a) &(b), 361(1)(a)& (b), 363 (1) and 364(1) of the criminal law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.
READ ALSO: PMI Hits Three-Month High With Output Rising Sharply In October
The defendant pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.
In 2020, the EFCC had closed its case — after calling five witnesses and tendering several documents to argue its case.
However, instead of opening defence, the defendant, through his counsel, Edoka Onyeke, filed a no-case submission.
Onyeke, the counsel to Odukoya had asked the court to “dismiss the seven-count charge and to discharge the defendant,” in which A. Ozioko, the prosecuting counsel, argued that there was “legally admissible evidence against the defendant to warrant him to enter his defence and to explain his role in the charge.”
Delivering the ruling, Mojisola Dada, presiding judge, dismissed the no-case submission and ordered the defendant to open his case on January 17 and 18, 2022.
