Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, on Friday arraigned Stella Oduah, former Minister of Aviation before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
Oduah was charged on a 25-count charge of money laundering.
She was docked alongside three others.
The others are Gloria Odita, Nwobu Emmanuel Nnamdi and Irene Chukwuma and five companies
The five companies are Global Offshore And Marine Limited, Tiptop Global Resources Limited, Crystal Television Limited, Sobora International Limited, and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.
Trial judge in the matter is Justice I. Ekwo.
Defendants pleaded not guilty
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them.
Justice Ekwo granted bail to the defendants on the terms of the administrative bail earlier offered them by the EFCC, and adjourned till October 17, 2023, for commencement of trial.
It will be recalled that the Commission had filed the charge against Oduah and others on December 17, 2020 but attempts to arraign them witnessed many twists and turns.
Several times the defendants were not available in court forcing adjournments, and when they were available.
But when in court, either counsel would for adjournment on the grounds of settlement negotiations, or the judge had issues that would not allow for arraignment.
At Friday hearing, Justice Ekwo requested for the report of an investigation which he had ordered the EFCC to carry out with respect to an anonymous threat message he received via SMS in relation to the case.
Mr. Hassan Liman, SAN, lead prosecutor of the EFCC told the court that the commission was doing its best to apprehend the anonymous messenger.
However, the inability of the commission to produce the report, Justice Ekwo said, has compelled him to order the commission to, within two weeks, hand over the file on its investigation of Oduah and eight others to the Attorney General of the Federation to continue with the prosecution.
