The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) has transferred the prosecution of Fidelis and Noel Anosike, both directors of Folio Communications Limited and owners of Daily Times Limited to the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP).
The brothers are facing charges of allegedly stealing N1.7 billion belonging to Daily Times before Justice Habeeb Abiru of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja.
An official of the Lagos state DPP, L.A Sanusi, who turned up for the court hearing on Tuesday, informed the court that, the AGF had on the 8th of March transferred the case file to the DPP for further prosecution.
He asked the court for an adjournment to enable his office study the volume of documents so as to know what steps to take in view of the volume of the documents.
Counsel to the Anosike brothers, Norrison Quakers (SAN), objected to the transfer, arguing that it was unconstitutional for the AGF to transfer the matter when there was already a pending application.
He also asked the court to strike out the charges against the Anosike’s on the basis that it was incompetent and the transfer to the DPP was against the criminal procedure rules
Presiding Judge, Justice Habeeb Abiru declined to strike out the matter and instead reminded Mr Quakers that the Attorney General of the federation had a valid fiat from the Attorney General of Lagos State to prosecute the matter.
The matter was then adjourned till the 30th April for further hearing.
The Anosike brothers are facing a 21-count charge of conspiring to siphon several billions of Naira from Daily Times Nigeria. They are also accused of allegedly making false representations to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) that they had the means to acquire majority shares in Daily TimesNigeria when the media house was privatised.
