Justice Lateefat Okunnu of an Ikeja High Court on Thursday dismissed applications for stay of proceedings filed separately by three former directors of Finbank Plc.
The former directors -Dayo Famoroti, Danjuma Ocholi and Agnes Ebubedike- are being prosecuted alongside a former Managing Director of Finbank, Okey Nwosu.
They were charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly stealing N10.9bn belonging to Finbank, which had been acquired by FCMB.
Delivering her ruling, Okunnu held that Section 277 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Lagos State 2011 forbids her to entertain such applications.
“Section 277 of the ACJL states that an appeal for stay of proceedings ‘shall’ not be entertained until judgment is delivered in a criminal matter,” she said.
The judge said Section 277 was not contrary to the provisions of Section 13(4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, “but rather complements it.”
Okunnu said the purpose of the section was to ensure that criminal matters were determined and disposed of in a timely manner.
“I cannot find merit in these respective applications. Without any further ado, I hereby strike out each of the applications,” the judge said.
Earlier, counsel for the defendants, Mr. Seyi Sowemimo (SAN), Mr. Victor Ukutt and Mrs. M. Abena, had asked the court to stay further proceedings on the matter.
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