N400m Fraud : Metuh Fires SANs, Hires New Lawyer

A former spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, has dropped the two Senior Advocates of Nigeria leading his defence in his N400m money laundering case before the Federal High Court in Abuja, hiring another lawyer, Mr Abel Ozioko, to take over from them.

Ozioko appeared in the case for the first time on Wednesday.

Metuh’s decision to stop Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu and Mr Emeka Etiaba came barely 24 hours after they filed an application for withdrawal as the defendant’s counsel.

Justice Okon Abang on March 5, 2019 fixed March 13, 2019 for the hearing of the SANs’ application.
But before the scheduled hearing, Metuh stopped them.

Ikpeazu and Etiaba had led his defence since January 2016 when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission preferred the charges against him.

Metuh and his firm, Destra Investment Limited, are being prosecuted by the EFCC on money laundering charges involving allegations that they both fraudulently took the sum N400m from the Office of the National Security Adviser “when they reasonably ought to know” that the money was part of the proceeds of alleged criminal act of then NSA, Sambo Dasuki”.

Metuh was also accused of transacting with a cash of $2m without going through a financial institution in violation of a provision of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.

At Wednesday’s proceedings, Ikpeazu informed the judge that his application seeking an order permitting him and his law firm to withdraw from the case had been overtaken by event following Metuh’s letter stopping his law firm.

Ikpeazu then sought to withdraw the application.