Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia State, was unsuccessful on Friday in stopping the Federal Government from appealing a court decision from 2021 that stopped his prosecution in an alleged ₦7.1 billion money laundering case.
Kalu and his company, Slok Nigeria Limited, objected to the Federal Government’s request for permission to appeal out of time through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), but the Court of Appeal’s three-member panel rejected their arguments.
Kalu and Slok had maintained that the Court of petition lacked jurisdiction over the matter because it had already rejected a previous Federal Government petition on March 6, 2024.
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Justice Ishaq Sanni, who rendered the verdict, noted, however, that the March 6 decision was dismissed for technical reasons pertaining to the certification of court documents rather than being founded on the merits of the case.
Justice Sanni decided that the Federal Government had the right to request an extension of time because the verdict was given after the three-month term for an appeal had passed.
The government was able to file its notice of appeal against the Federal High Court’s September 29, 2021, verdict after the court granted the request.
Additionally, the Federal Government was ordered by the court to provide the notice of appeal within 14 days.
Two cases are covered by the ruling: CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/CV/431MI/2024 (FRN v. Slok Nigeria Limited & two others) and CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/CV/430MI/2024 (FRN v. Orji Uzor Kalu & two others).
