Former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, was unsuccessful on Friday in his attempt to prevent the Federal Government from appealing the September 29, 2021, judgment by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which had halted his prosecution on a N7.1 billion money laundering charge.
In two rulings delivered on Friday, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal dismissed the objections raised by Kalu and his company, Slok Nigeria Limited, to the application filed by the Federal Government, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking leave to appeal out of time.
Kalu and Slok had contended that the Court of Appeal, having already issued a ruling on March 6, 2024, striking out an earlier appeal by the Federal Government, had become functus officio (no longer capable of acting on the case) and could not take any further action.
However, Justice Ishaq Sanni, who delivered the rulings, clarified that the March 6, 2024, judgment did not address the merits of the appeal but only struck it out on procedural grounds.
He noted that the appeal was dismissed due to issues with the certification of the record of appeal, specifically the omission of the certifying official’s designation.
Justice Sanni ruled that, since the judgment in March 2024 was delivered after the three-month window for filing an appeal had passed, the Federal Government was justified in filing its application for an extension of time to appeal.
Consequently, Justice Sanni granted the Federal Government’s request, issuing an order extending the time for filing the notice of appeal against the September 29 judgment.
He also instructed the government to file the notice of appeal within 14 days.
The rulings were made in the appeals marked: CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/CV/430MI/2024 (FRN v. Orji Uzor Kalu and two others) and CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/CV/431MI/2024 (FRN v. Slok Nigeria Limited and two others).
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