Court exonerates former EFCC chairman, Magu, from N573m money laundering

The Federal Capital Territory High Court on Wednesday exonerated the former Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, and Prophet Emmanuel Omale of the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry form  N573 million Money laundering claims.

The  presiding judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Halilu Yusuf, in the judgment on the suit marked: FCT/HC/CV2541/2020 filed by Omale, his wife and the church, in his judgement, said that the evidence before the court showed that Omale’s bank admitted error in its report to the NFIU of entries in the Divine hand of God Prophetic ministries account.

The judge stated that the bank claimed that the purported N573 million was wrongly reflected as a credit entry in Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry’s account by its reporting system, which it recently upgraded.

Justice Halilu also said that the bank admitted the error, which occasioned incalculable damage to the reputation of Pastor Omale, his wife and their church both within and outside the country.

He, therefore, awarded the sum of N540 million as damages in favour of the church.

The presidential investigation panel head by Justice Isa Salami, while investigating Magu had alleged that an investigation by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), showed that the former EFCC chairman paid N573 million into Omale’s church’s account from which property was alleged to be bought in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, UAE.

The investigation of the Justice Salami panel led to the removal of Magu as EFCC chairman.