From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday, reserved judgement in the bail application on the money laundering case against Chinyere Igwe, member of the House of Representatives for Port Harcourt Federal Constituency 2.
Igwe was alleged to have, on February 24, 2023, been in possession of $498,000 without reporting to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
When the matter was mentioned, Principal Prosecuting Counsel from the Office of the Attorney General, Rivers State, applied to take over the prosecution from the police, which was not opposed to by the defendant counsel, but insisted to move the motion for the bail application.
The bail application was moved, and the presiding judge, Justice Stephen Day-Lop Pam, ruled that the principal prosecutor from the Ministry of Justice should take over the case and reserved judgement on the bail application. Justice Pam also adjourned the case to May 4, 2023, for the substantive case to commence and ordered that the defendant be remanded in police custody.
Speaking to journalists outside the court, Chidi Ekeh, Principal Prosecuting Counsel, said, “we applied to take over the prosecution of the matter from the police, which application has been granted and so have done that. The defence instituted a motion moving the bail application and the court agreed with them that the matter was ordinarily adjourned to today for bail application.
“So, we adopted our processes and the court has reserved a ruling on that application. Meanwhile, the substantive matter will come up in May, precisely May 4, for hearing. The suspect has been asked to remain in custody of the police.”
Counsel for the defendant, Reuben Wanoghor, said: “It was interesting we had filed our motion for the bail of the defendant, and the motion was adjourned to today for hearing. However, the state came in to say they have been granted a fiat by the Attorney General of the Federation, to take over the prosecution of the case. They were allowed to come in, so we went ahead to take the motion for bail.
“So, that application for bail has been reserved for ruling .The substantive case is adjourned to May 4. The ruling on the issue of bail is at the discretion of the court; it is for the court to decide whether to give a bench ruling or a well considered ruling. The court took the option of delivering a well considered ruling which, of course, you cannot do while sitting down there. I am not disappointed that the matter was adjourned.”