Mohammed Adoke, the former Attorney-General of the Federation, was charged with fraud, bribery, and conspiracy by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), but those accusations were dismissed by Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the FCT High Court in Jabi, Abuja.
Judge Kutigi dismissed Adoke’s no-case argument, finding that the EFCC had not proven its allegations of money laundering, bribery, and fraud, and that the defendant had no case to answer.
He removed the former minister from office and cleared him of all charges.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and other authorities, according to the judge, have not substantiated the claim that Shell and Eni received unlawful tax waivers.
Regarding the purported N300 million bribe that Aliyu Abubakar allegedly gave to Adoke, the court decided that the EFCC had not shown enough evidence to support its claims.
Prior to this, the EFCC had acknowledged that it lacked the necessary proof to challenge Adoke’s no case application, even though he was named as the first defendant.
Nonetheless, the anti-graft agency maintained that Rasky Gbinigie had a case to answer for the purported fabrication of corporate records to obliterate Mohammed Abacha’s name from the list of directors of Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd.
Adoke, Aliyu Abubakar, Gbinije of Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd, Nigeria Agip Exploration Ltd, Shell Ultra Deep Nigeria Ltd, and Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo) were all accused by the EFCC before the FCT High Court in Abuja on January 15, 2020.
Adoke was charged with obtaining N300 million in compensation from Abubakar about the OPL 245 settlement.
In order to “commit the offence of public servant disobeying direction of law with intent to cause injury or to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture,” he was charged with planning to conspire with other defendants.
By allegedly “saving Shell Nigeria Ultra-Deep Limited, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited, and Shell Nigeria Exploration Company Limited from charges of taxes,” the former AGF was charged with “knowingly disobeying direction of law.”
Adoke refuted every accusation.
Judge Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja is currently hearing a second case against Adoke and Abubakar.
The OPL 245 deal is not mentioned in this trial, but the EFCC accused the identical details before Kutigi of the FCT high court, claiming that Adoke accepted a N300 million bribe from Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd. when the oil block was sold to Shell and Eni in 2011.
Adoke also submitted a no case, but Ekwos has not yet issued a decision.