The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed the Federal Government’s appeals against a ruling from the Federal High Court that stopped them from reopening the trial of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and his company, Slok Nigeria Ltd., for money laundering charges.
The appeals were in response to a judgment on September 29, 2021, by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which prevented the Federal Government from continuing to prosecute Kalu and Slok after the Supreme Court had nullified the previous trial and conviction.
In two separate judgments on Wednesday, March 6, a three-member panel of the court determined that the Federal Government’s appeals were not valid.
Justice Joseph Oyewole, who wrote and presented the main judgments for both appeals, agreed with the objections raised by the former Abia State governor and Slok.
The court found that the appeal records in both cases were not correctly compiled and certified according to the Court of Appeal’s Rules and Section 104 of the Evidence Act.
It was stated that even if the court overlooked the rule violation, it could not ignore the failure to comply with the mandatory provision of the Evidence Act.
The court observed that the official from the trial court who certified the records did not specify their designation as required by the Evidence Act.
The Federal Government’s lawyer, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, mentioned that following the court’s decision, the appellant would submit new appeals to address the core issues of the case.
