A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, struck out the suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Olisa Metuh for retrial.
Justice Emeka Nwite, in a ruling, described the seven-count criminal charge in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/05/2022 filed by the EFCC, as “an abuse of court process.”
The EFCC had, in 2016, arraigned Metuh on seven counts of money laundering bordering on allegedly receiving N400 million from the office of the national security adviser.
Okon Abang, a federal high court judge, on February 25, 2020, pronounced Metuh guilty on all counts and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
Dissatisfied with the court’s decision, Metuh, through his counsel, filed an appeal in March 2020.
As part of the 10 issues raised for determination by the appellate court, Metuh argued that he was not given a fair trial.
He submitted that the trial judge was biased, citing some of the remarks made during the trial.
Consequently, he was released from prison on December 24, 2020.
In line with the court of appeal order, Metuh’s case file was re-assigned to Emeka Nwite for the defendant to take a fresh plea.
The EFCC subsequently approached the supreme court to challenge the verdict of the court of appeal.
At the resumed court session, Metuh, through his lawyer, Afam Osigwe, challenged the legal propriety of the new charge against him and urged the court to strike it out.
In his ruling, the judge noted that the EFCC ought not to have filed a fresh charge since its appeal against the appellate court’s decision is still pending at the supreme court.
“It is uncalled for… for the prosecution to bring a fresh charge when the other charge is still pending. The action is in gross abuse of the court process,” the judge said.
“Consequently, the charge is hereby struck out for constituting an abuse of the court process.”
