The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday has restrictedt Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) and the federal government from retrying former Abia Governor, Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu on alleged N7.1billion money laundering charge
Justice Inyang Ekwo gave the order in a judgment on an application filed by the former governor seeking an order of court prohibiting the EFCC from retrying him on a charge for which he had already been tried and convicted.
Kalu had in the Application he filed through his team of lawyers let by Chief Awa Kalu, SAN, argued that allowing the EFCC to try him afresh on the charge and same facts upon which he was earlier convicted and sentenced on December 5, 2019, would occasion him to suffer a “double jeopardy”.
According to him, “The unassailable position of the law is that no person who shows that he has been tried by any court of competent jurisdiction or tribunal for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted, shall again be tried for that offence having the same ingredients as that offence, save upon the order or a competent Court.
However The judge in it’s ruling on Wednesday said: “An order is hereby made prohibiting the Federal Government through the EFCC from retrying the applicant (Kalu) on charge no. FHC/ABJ/CR/56/2007, since there was no order in the judgment of the Supreme Court for the retrial of Kalu”.
Orji Kalu is the chief whip of the Nigerian Senate.
