Court Orders EFCC To Remove Raymond Dokpesi From Watch List

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to remove the name of the founder of the African Independent Television (AIT), Raymond Dokpesi, from its watch list.

According to Justice Tsoho, there is no justification for the anti-graft agency to continue to keep Dokpesi on the watch list since no criminal charge or allegation is pending against him.

The Chief Judge who ruled in an application filed and argued by Dokpesi’s counsel, Mr Kanu Agabi, SAN, said keeping Dokpesi on the watch list will amount to disobedience to the Court of Appeal judgment which in April this year quashed the N2.1 billion money laundering charges against him.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had in April 2021 dismissed the N2.1 billion money laundering charges filed against Dokpesi by the EFCC.

The court upheld the no-case submission filed by Dokpesi and DAAR Communications in the seven counts.

In the judgment, Justice Elfreda Oyebisi Williams-Dawodu held that the anti-graft agency, the EFCC failed to establish a prima facie case against Mr Dokpesi in the charges.

He noted that the ingredients of the offences were not provided by the prosecution as required by law.

The court agreed with the counsel for the appellant, Kanu Agabi that being a predicate offence, the ingredients of the offences against his client must be provided, adding that it was clear that none of the offences was established in line with the provisions of the Nigerian laws.

The court further held that the EFCC failed to prove that the N2.1 billion allegedly received by the appellant as payment were proceeds of breach of trust.