A Federal High Court in Abuja has discharged and acquitted businessman Aliyu Abubakar and seven others of money laundering, criminal misappropriation, forgery and other offences relating to the management of funds belonging to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited.
In two separate judgments, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) failed to establish the allegations contained in two charges comprising a total of 53 counts.
The first judgment involved a 43-count charge filed against Abubakar, Malabu Oil and six other companies.
In his ruling, Justice Ekwo held that the EFCC was wrong to have proceeded with the prosecution despite a 2018 letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation directing that the defendants should not be prosecuted on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
The second judgment concerned a separate 10-count charge in which Abubakar was the sole remaining defendant.
Former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, who was initially listed as the first defendant in the case, had earlier been discharged after the court upheld his no-case submission in a ruling delivered on April 19, 2024.
The latest judgments mark a significant development in the protracted legal proceedings over the management of funds linked to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited.
