Olisa Metuh gets October 14 date for retrial for alleged money laundering 

Former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic party, PDP, Olisa Metuh will on October 14, 2021 be re-arraingned for alleged money laundering.

Metuh was released from prison in December 2020 after the Court of Appeal set aside his earlier conviction and sentence.

However, the Federal High Court in Abuja has held that Metuh’s retrial begins on the said date as ordered by the Court of Appeal in December 2020.

The erstwhile PDP spokesman is facing  alleged N400 million money laundering charge.

He was accused of allegedly receiving the money from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, for his PDP’s presidential campaigns ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Two of the charges have to do with $2 million cash, which he allegedly transacted with without going through a financial institution, in violation of cash transaction limits, as provided in the money laundering act.

Metuh was earlier jailed seven years for the offences on 25 February 2020 but he got a reprieve in December of the same year after the Court of Appeal in Abuja nullified his previous trial and ordered his retrial, paving his way to release from prison.

The Court of Appeal had set aside the proceedings, leading up to Mr Metuh’s conviction by the Federal High Court in Abuja on the grounds that the trial judge, Okon Abang, allegedly exhibited bias against the accused and his lawyers.

Following the Court of Appeal’s judgment, another judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nkeonye Maha, on December 24, 2020, ordered Metuh’s release from prison and granted him bail in the sum of N250 million. Metuh was also granted permission to travel abroad on health grounds, pending his retrial.