An Ikeja Special Offences Court has fixed April 4 for the trial of the former Lagos Attorney-General, Olasupo Shasore charged with a $200,000 bribery case.
Shasore was charged before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and was on October 21 arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on corrupt offers.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charge, however, Justice Dada adjourned the case after the lead defence counsel, Mr Chijioke Okoli, (SAN), moved applications, seeking the adjournment of the case.
Okoli told the court that the defendant had filed an application dated Dec. 2, to seek an adjournment.
He added there was a need for an adjournment because the defense needed more documents from the prosecution.
The EFCC counsel, Mr Bala Sanga had informed the court that he was ready to proceed with the trial as that was the business of the day.
“The matter was adjourned till today (Tuesday) for trial, and we have two witnesses in court and we are ready.
“We, however, confirm the receipt of the defence application and will not be objecting as long as the defence accepts that the adjournment is at their instance.
“My Lord, on the request of the defense for more documents, I want to inform the court that this is one case out of about 103 cases on investigations going on around Process and Industrial Developments Ltd, P&ID.
“At the moment, there are roughly at least 21 ongoing criminal trials and what that means is that apart from the trials, we have 153 files, with a volume of papers running up to more than 30,000.
“We can only volunteer to give them what we can because the law says what requires is proof of evidence not proof of defence. We are more than happy to oblige them with relevant documents,” he said.
The prosecution had alleged that the defendant gave $100,000 to Mrs Olufolakemi Adelore (then Director, Legal, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources) on account of the role she played in the arbitral proceedings instituted by Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) against the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
The prosecution also submitted that the defendant allegedly gave the sum of $100,000 to one Mr Ikechukwu Oguine (Secretary to the Corporation and Coordinator, Legal Services, NNPC) on account of the role he played in the arbitral proceedings instituted by Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) against the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
The anti-graft agency said the offense is contrary to and punishable under Section 9(1) (a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.