Court of Appeal has quashed money laundering charges to the tune of N2.1 billion filed against the founder of DAAR Communications Plc and DAAR Investment & Holdings Company, High Chief Aleogho Dokpesi of money laundering.
Dokpesi has also been discharged of violation of the procurement law after 6 years of prosecution by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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In its ruling on the appeal by Dokpesi on Thursday, the court led by Justice Elfreda Williams-Dawudu held that the anti-graft agency failed to establish a prima facie case (a case that is sufficient to establish a fact or raise a presumption unless disproved) against Dokpesi and Daar Communications to warrant him entering a defence.
He, therefore, set aside the judgment delivered by Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court.
The trial court had asked Dokpesi to open his defence after dismissing the no-case submission argued by the defendant.
On November 21, 2018, Justice Tsoho had struck out the no-case submission filed by Dokpesi and his company, saying they had a case to answer.
He stated that the defendants must explain the N2.1 billion they allegedly received from the office of National Security Adviser in 2015.
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The trial judge who relied on a judgement of the Supreme Court in a similar case involving a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, held that the prosecution had established a prima facie case warranting the defendants to explain their own side of the story.
He had fixed February 2019 for Dokpesi and his company to open their defence.
