Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Chairman emeritus of DAAR Communications and owner of Africa Independent Television (AIT), Chief Raymond Dokpesi on Friday lost the legal battle to stop his criminal trial before the Abuja division Federal High Court.
Dokpesi, who is standing trial with a firm, DAAR Investment and Holdings Company Limited before the trial Court on charges bordering on diversion and breach of procurement law to the tune of N2.1 billion, failed to convince the Court of Appeal to quash the charges slammed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
They had appealed against the decision of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho who dismissed his no-case submission in respect of the charges preferred against them and ordering them to enter their defence.
Delivering ruling in the appeal, the appellate court declined it’s jurisdiction to entertain the case.
In the seven-count amended charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Dokpesi and DAAR Investment are accused among others, of diverting about N2.1 billion received from the office of National Security Adviser (NSA) while Sambo Dasuki was in charge.
In a ruling on Friday, a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal held that the two notices of appeal, dated November 26 and 30, 2018, filed jointly for Dokpesi and DAAR Investment by their lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN), were incompetent.
In the lead ruling, authored and read by Justice Stephen Adah, the court upheld the argument by lawyer the prosecution, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, to the effect that it was wrong for the two appellants to file joint notices of appeal in a criminal case.
The court noted that Dokpesi and DAAR Investment, named as first and second defendants in the charge before the trial court, are separate entities. It added that in criminal cases, liability is personal.
held that, by the Rules of the court, Dokpesi, as a natural person, ought to file his separate notice of appeal, which he must either sign personally or by his lawyer, while DAAR Investment, being an artificial person, ought to have its separate notice of appeal signed by one of its senior officials.
The court held that Agabi’s argument that DAAR Investment was not dully arraigned before the trial court was out of place.
It stated that it is the practice that the filing of a notice of appeal must be done personally by an appellant and that where such an appellant is not a person, it must be signed by a senior official of the company.
“There are no provisions sanctioning joint filing of notice of appeal. Notice of appeal must be filed separately in a criminal matter. The law does not allow joint filing of notice of appeal,” the court held.
It added that where a notice of appeal is not filed as required under the court’s Rules, it amounts to an abuse of process.
“An appeal initiated without regard for the rule of court is incompetent. A notice of appeal must be filed separately in a criminal matter. The law does not allow joint filing of a notice of appeal.” it said.
The court held that, having not complied with the court’s rules; the joint notices of appeal by Dokpesi and DAAR Investment are incompetent, thereby denying the court the requisite jurisdiction to entertain them.