Former Sanusi Lamido, Sanusi Lamido has today attacked
the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) saying they are bias in their
investigation.
Sanusi's Lawyer Mr. Kola Awodein (SAN) said that FRCN doesn't have the power by law to probe
Sanusi Lamido.Sanusi's Lawyer Mr. Kola Awodein (SAN) said that FRCN doesn't have the power by law to probe
Mr. Awodein was arguing his Originating Summons before
Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court, Lagos and prayed the court stop
its investigation by the council.
He joined FRCN and its Executive Secretary as respondents.
According to him, FRCN’s declaration in a Briefing Note dated June 7 and
submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan were ultra vires (outside) its powers
as contained in the FRCN Act, 2011.
The applicant is urging the court to hold that the
defendants, having reached a conclusion as to his culpability as Governor of
CBN, as indicated in the briefing note and newspaper publications, can no
longer conduct any investigation on the same matter.
Awodein said the defendants do not have the power to
conduct the wide-ranging investigations as reported in a news medium and as
contained in an invitation letter sent to Sanusi.
He added that the defendants cannot, therefore, conduct
that kind of investigation regarding the period that the plaintiff was the CBN
governor.
According to Awodein, the defendants reached conclusions
and made far reaching recommendations without giving Sanusi a fair hearing. “In
those conclusions and decisions they have taken, they have breached his
fundamental rights to natural justice, because the plaintiff was not given any
opportunity to defend himself before they reached those decisions,” Awodein
said.
For
instance, the lawyer said FRCN wrongly accused Sanusi of misappropriating
N20.2billion in legal and professional fees. He said had the defendants given
Sanusi the opportunity to defend himself, he would have shown how the money was
spent.
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