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A Federal High Court in Lagos has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency(NIA), Amb. Ayodele Oke, and his wife, Folashade, in connection with recovered $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 linked to them as proceeds of crime.
Oke and his wife are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes commission(EFCC) in connection with some monies reportedly recovered from flat 7B, No 16,Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The agency had filed a four-count charge of money laundering, fraud, concealment of crime proceeds, and criminal breach of trust against the duo in connection with the funds discovered in April 2017.
The NIA had claimed ownership of the funds, saying they were part of “covert intelligence operations” .
At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, Rotimi Oyedepo, the EFCC counsel, told the court that the anti-graft agency has not been able to serve Oke and his wife the charge sheet as their whereabout remains unknown.
“We are having issues with the service of the charge sheet. We have gone to their known addresses but could not find them to be able to serve them with the charges,” Oyedepo told the court.
He, however, urged Justice C.J. Aneke, to make an order compelling the appearance of Oke and his wife before the court, a request the court turned down.
The judge said the EFCC has not been able to properly file their case and that “it is when I see the file that I can determine the urgency of any application.”
He then asked the EFCC counsel to return in 24 hours with the relevant application that could warrant such court order.
EFCC successfully filed the application on Thursday morning which prompted the judge to issue the bench warrant for the couple’s arrest.