After seven years of rigorous trial, Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos on Thursday delivered judgment in the $2.1 million money laundering case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against Dr. Femi Thomas, a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS.
The court discharged and acquitted Thomas on five out of the six counts brought against him by the anti-graft agency and found him guilty on one count relating to cash transaction above the legal threshold of N5million for an individual.
Dr. Femi Thomas and Kabiru Sidi were arraigned on June 28, 2017, before Justice Faji on an amended seven-count charge bordering on money laundering involving $2,198,900.
In his judgement, Justice Faji held that the EFCC failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the allegations contained in counts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7.
The judge noted that the Commission admitted during trial that it did not investigate several claims made by the defendant and was unable to establish unlawful enrichment against him.
Specifically, the court found Thomas guilty on count five, which involved making a cash payment above the N5 million threshold permitted by law for individuals. He was accordingly fined N10 million.
Justice Faji also found the second defendant, Kabiru Sidi, guilty on count six the only count against him for falsely claiming ownership of the money in question during an EFCC investigation and ordered him to pay a fine of N100,000.
In his allocutus before the judgment, counsel to the first defendant, Mr. Collins Ogbonna, who led Mr. Kunle Gbolahan, pleaded for leniency, describing Dr. Thomas as a first-time offender with an outstanding professional record.
He noted that the defendant had trained many cardiologists in Nigeria, established the Cardiology Department at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, and is now a retiree with a dependent child still in school.
He urged the court to impose a non-custodial sentence, preferably a fine, in consideration of the defendant’s contributions to the country and his family circumstances.
Counsel for the second defendant, Mr. O. Ajanaku, also pleaded for mercy, citing his client’s serious health challenges.
Justice Faji in his sentence ordered EFCC to release the $2,198,900 seized from Thomas, noting that the agency had no basis to continue holding on to the money since it was not a proceed of crime.
However, the court ordered that the release of the funds would be subject to the payment of the N10 million fine imposed on him for the single count on which he was found guilty.
The trial judge said: “I have listened to your allocutus and noted that you are regular in court, that you have no criminal record, that you have served the nation meritoriously as a commissioner and as Executive Secretary of NHIS.”
The court further held that Dr. Thomas made his money legitimately and that the money in question is not a proceed of crime. “I order the prosecution to return the money to you within 14 days,” the judge pronounced.
The court consequently gave Dr. Thomas seven days’ grace to pay the fine from the day of judgement but added that he should not travel out of the country until the payment of fine is made.