Lagos AG refutes EFCC’s delay tactics allegation in US bizman’s trial
By Henry Ojelu
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State, Mr. Lawal Pedro, SAN, has refuted the claim by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that while in private practice he was responsible for several adjournments in the trial of an American, Marco Ramirez, who was convicted last week in Lagos for a $1.2 million EB-5 visa scam.
Ramirez, an American businessman was sentenced to 68 years in prison on Tuesday last week by a Lagos High Court along with his companies, USA NOW LLC, Eagle Ford Group LP and USA Now Energy Capital Group LP, for defrauding some Nigerians through the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) US Investor Programme.
Ramirez who was first arraigned by the EFCC on June 22, 2017, before Justice Josephine Oyefeso of the Ikeja High Court, Lagos, was later re-arraigned before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court in 2019 on an amended 12-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining under false pretence.
Following his re-arraignment, Ramirez engaged the services of Mr Pedro, SAN, who handled his defence until 2023 when he was appointed Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos state.
In a statement issued by the EFCC after Ramirez’s conviction last week, the Commission had claimed that Ramirez’s trial “suffered several adjournments occasioned by Mr Pedro, SAN, and the inability of the defence to file its own final written addresses in good time, even after the prosecution counsel, M.S. Owede and S.O. Daji, had filed theirs.”
But reacting to the statement, Mr Pedro in an interview with some journalists, denied the allegation and claimed that the record of the court show that he concluded the trial diligently.
He said: “Yes the report was brought to my attention by my son who is also in legal practice and wondered why I made the case suffered several adjournments as reported despite my frequent admonition of counsel to avoid delay of cases.
“I have read the report and it is mischievous. It is in respect of the judgment in favour of EFCC. The report is a one-sided story of the case as usual. But giving a wrong and misleading report to disparage me is most unfortunate, disappointing and least expected from the Commission
“It is on record that after I was appointed Attorney General & Commissioner for Justice in September 2023, I ceased to represent the Defendant and another counsel, David Odde of Seagate Partners took over the defence.
“The counsel appeared several times in the matter and I was reliably informed that he appeared on the day of the judgment. My question is why is his name not mentioned in the report but mine?
“Also the defence of the defendant made in court backed with documents to the effect that at the time money was collected for the Visa from the complainants he had approval and license of the US Home Office to process the Visa on behalf of applicants, was not included in the report for a balanced story.
According to him, the report was an attempt to mislead the public and cast aspersion on him.
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