Attempts by former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu to stop the Federal Government from appealing a 2021 court decision that stopped his prosecution in an alleged ₦7.1 billion money laundering case failed Friday.
When Kalu and his company, Slok Nigeria Limited, objected to the Federal Government’s request for permission to appeal out of time through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal rejected their comments.
Since the Court of petition had already rejected a previous Federal Government petition on March 6, 2024, Kalu and Slok had contended that the Court lacked additional jurisdiction over the matter.
But Justice Ishaq Sanni, who handed down the decision, explained that the March 6 ruling was invalidated for technical reasons relating to the certification of court documents rather than the case’s merits.
According to Justice Sanni, the Federal Government was properly entitled to request an extension of time because the verdict was issued after the three-month timeframe for an appeal had passed.
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In order to enable the government to submit its notice of appeal against the Federal High Court’s September 29, 2021 ruling, the court approved the motion.
The Federal Government must submit the notice of appeal within 14 days, the court further said.
The decision is applicable to two cases: FRN v. Orji Uzor Kalu & two others (CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/CV/430MI/2024) and FRN v. Slok Nigeria Limited & two others (CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/CV/431MI/2024).
