{"id":7862,"date":"2025-05-20T07:57:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T07:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/?p=7862"},"modified":"2025-05-20T07:57:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T07:57:39","slug":"agf-revokes-falanas-fiat-in-fraud-case-against-zinox-chairman-leo-stan-ekeh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/20\/agf-revokes-falanas-fiat-in-fraud-case-against-zinox-chairman-leo-stan-ekeh\/","title":{"rendered":"AGF Revokes Falana\u2019s Fiat in Fraud Case Against Zinox Chairman Leo Stan Ekeh"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has officially withdrawn the prosecutorial fiat previously granted to human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, in the fraud case involving Zinox Technologies Chairman, Leo Stan Ekeh, and 12 others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fiat, granted on December 20, 2023<\/strong>, authorized Falana to prosecute a long-running corporate fraud allegation. However, following multiple legal setbacks and a formal request by defense counsel Matthew Burkaa, SAN<\/strong>, the AGF rescinded the authorization in a letter dated May 2, 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Falana\u2019s Authority Withdrawn After Repeated Legal Defeats<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the letter addressed to both Falana and Burkaa, the AGF cited \u201cthe facts and circumstances of the case\u201d as justification for the revocation. He referenced previous appeals by Burkaa dated December 24, 2024<\/strong>, March 27, 2025<\/strong>, and April 10, 2025<\/strong>, urging the Ministry of Justice to act.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAfter a review of your request and the context of the matter, the AGF has decided to withdraw the fiat,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Falana was instructed to immediately withdraw Charge No. FCT\/HC\/CR\/985\/2024<\/strong>, the latest in a string of similar lawsuits filed against Ekeh and others in connection with a \u20a6162 million laptop supply contract at the FIRS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The case, widely viewed as a judicial merry-go-round<\/strong>, has been dismissed three times<\/strong> by various judges of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court. Most recently, on March 20, 2025<\/strong>, Justice Akpan Okon Ebong<\/strong> dismissed the suit for constituting a \u201cgross abuse of court process.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cNone of the law enforcement agencies has found merit in the complainant\u2019s allegations,\u201d Justice Ebong remarked in the ruling.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A Legal Battle That Refuses to End<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is not the first time a fiat granted to Falana in the matter has been rescinded. In 2022<\/strong>, former AGF Abubakar Malami, SAN, also revoked a similar authorization. Each time the fiat was withdrawn, the associated charges were either struck out or dismissed.<\/p>\n

Despite prior dismissals, the complainant, Benjamin Joseph<\/strong>, continued to pursue litigation through Falana\u2019s legal team. His persistence has now been interpreted by multiple judges as a \u201ccampaign of persecution.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThis matter was brought in dead\u2026 It is an abuse of court process,\u201d Justice Ade S. Adepoju<\/strong> ruled in a March 19, 2024<\/strong> judgment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Earlier rulings also found that Leo Stan Ekeh and his co-defendants were in fact victims<\/strong> of a botched diversion scheme orchestrated by Joseph and his company, Citadel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s Allegations Previously Discredited<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The EFCC and police investigations into the matter resulted in charges against Joseph himself<\/strong> for providing false information<\/strong> to law enforcement. In Charge No. CR\/216\/16<\/strong>, he was arraigned for misleading police authorities. Additionally, Justice Senchi of the FCT High Court imposed \u20a620 million<\/strong> in damages against him for filing false petitions<\/strong> in another suit involving a business partner.<\/p>\n

This latest action by the AGF appears to be the final nail in the coffin for a legal saga spanning over a decade and costing judicial time, resources, and reputational integrity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has officially withdrawn the prosecutorial fiat previously granted to human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, in the fraud case involving Zinox Technologies Chairman, Leo Stan Ekeh, and 12 others. The fiat, granted on December 20, 2023, authorized Falana to prosecute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"AGF withdraws Femi Falana\u2019s fiat in fraud case against Zinox\u2019s Leo Stan Ekeh, citing abuse of process.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7866,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862\/revisions\/7866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}