One of five men accused of a $143 million bank draft fraud has been cleared at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Judge Patrick McCartan said there was insufficient evidence against Mr Achike Okigbo to allow his case to be decided by a jury.
Mr Okigbo (26), now with an address at Blessington Street, Dublin, smiled and shook hands with one of the four other accused before walking free from the courtroom. Judge McCartan ordered his release at the end of prosecution evidence on the 16th day of the trial.
Mr Eamonn Leahy SC, for Mr Okigbo, argued that the only real evidence against his client was a videotape of him entering a bank, allegedly to purchase a $10 bank draft. Mr Leahy said no properly directed jury could find him guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud on that evidence alone.
Judge McCartan said Mr Okigbo was linked to the case because he had the access code to an office in Baggot Street, Dublin, which was allegedly used to commit fraudulent conspiracy. It was also alleged that he lived in a house where a number of documents had been seized.
The judge said none of the documents in the case could be used as evidence against Mr Okigbo. He noted the judgment in The People v Keane in which Mr Justice Walsh found that prosecutors must show that no innocent explanation could reasonably be adduced from an accused person's actions.
Judge McCartan said there could be an innocent explanation for Mr Okigbo's actions in this case, and the court must therefore withdraw his case from the jury. Earlier, the jury heard evidence suggesting that another one of the accused took out a driving licence and rented a house under a false name.
A prosecution witness, Mr Thomas McLoughlin, said he rented a house in Clonee, Co Meath, to two men, one of whom identified himself as "Oscar Prince Naduka". Mr Nicholas Thompson, a clerk at a Dublin driving licence office, said "Oscar Prince Naduka" had taken out a provisional licence in December 1997. The prosecution claims that "Oscar Prince Naduka" was really one of the accused, Mr Christian Obumneme.
Det Sgt John O'Neill said he found Mr Obumneme's fingerprints on a number of documents seized during a Garda raid on the offices of a company called World Wide Clearing and Finance at Baggot Street, Dublin. The palm print of another accused, Mr Obiora Uzodike, was found on another document in the office.
Det Sgt O'Neill agreed with Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC, for Mr Uzodike, that the prints found could have been made on the documents at any time.
The accused have pleaded not guilty to trying to defraud are tired German businessman, Mr Heinz Althoff, by forming a fraudulent company.
The four are also charged with claiming they had bank drafts in their possession worth $32,000,000; seeking £2 million from Mr Terry Smith in exchange for them; and with various counts of trying to obtain money by false pretences using documents purporting to be international bank drafts made out for multi-million-dollar sums. The trial continues.