The Federal High Court in Lagos has rescheduled the arraignment of Lebanese Hamza Koudeih and his accomplice Kayode Philip, alias Voice of the King, accused of money laundering.
Mr Philip and Koudeih are facing 24 counts filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Their arraignment, which was initially scheduled for Monday, November 25, before Justice Muslim Hassan, couldn’t go on as Koudeih’s lawyer, Abdulamid Mohammed, said he was yet to see the charge sheet against his client.
The lawyer, who is based in Abuja, said he was only told on Sunday that the matter would be coming up in Lagos on Monday and he had to rush down.
He said on getting to court on Monday morning, his client told him that the EFCC served the charge sheet on him on Friday and he gave it to his wife who took it home.
Mr Mohammed prayed Justice Hassan to adjourn the case to enable him to study the charge sheet and prepare for his client’s defence, citing Section 36 of the constitution, which provided that an accused must be given adequate time and facility to prepare for his defence.
The prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, opposed the prayer for an adjournment.
Following arguments between the lawyers, Justice Hassan, in a short ruling, said he would like to exercise caution and adjourn the case for Koudeih’s lawyer to study the 24 counts and the three volumes of proof of evidence filed by the EFCC against the defendant.
He adjourned till Thursday, November 28 for arraignment.
In the first count, the EFCC alleged that Philip and Koudeih conspired to convert aggregate sums of $7.06million and €80,000, “which sums you reasonably ought to have known form part of proceeds of fraud.”
The prosecution said the duo acted contrary to sections 18(a) and 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act and were liable to be punished under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
The EFCC had on October 26 arrested Koudeih in his multi-million dollar Victoria Island luxury apartment in Lagos.
The EFCC claimed that Koudeih pays an annual rent of $5million for the apartment in the 33-storey Eko Atlantic Pearl Tower, VI.