The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has made a clarification on what happened in court yesterday September 26, during a hearing on the money laundering lawsuit filed against a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh.
It was reported earlier that Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja Federal High Court struck out a suit filed by the EFCC against the former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP for retrial. He noted that the lawsuit was “an abuse of court process,” adding that “while the matter was pending before the Supreme Court, it was a gross abuse of the court for the commission to have filed the same matter for retrial before him.”
EFCC’s Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren in a statement released on Tuesday September 27, said the report was “a gross misrepresentation of the status of the case.”
Uwujaren added that Metuh’s case was before the Supreme Court and not the Federal High Court.
The statement read;
“The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to some reports in the media, alleging that the Federal High Court, FHC, sitting in Abuja, on Monday, September 26, 2022, struck out a suit filed by the Commission against former National Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Olisa Metuh, for retrial. We wish to state unequivocally that there is no modicum of truth in those reports.
“Metuh’s case is presently pending before the Supreme Court, arising from the appeal by the Commission, as well as his own cross appeal, upon the judgment of the Court of Appeal which nullified the judgment of the trial court on alleged grounds of bias.
“There is, therefore, no pending case before the Federal High Court to warrant striking out of the same.
“It bears reiterating that the EFCC has no fresh application for retrial of Metuh before the court. There can be no striking out of a suit that was not initiated or filed before the court. Any report of striking out of a suit filed by the EFCC on Metuh is a gross misrepresentation of the status of the case and the public is enjoined to ignore such reports.
“The EFCC is awaiting the judgment of the apex court, against the discharge of Metuh, by the Court of Appeal in the N400 million money laundering charges instituted against him. The Commission will do nothing to abuse processes of the court as it remains committed to total respect for the rule of law.”