A pro-democracy organisation, Open Democracy Network, Nigeria, has expressed sadness over the decision of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to press new fraud charges against the former Bayelsa State governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, based on a case that had been dismissed by the court.

In a statement in Abuja by S. Mahmood, the group accused EFCC of reactivating a frivolous litigation that embarrassed the country and the legal system.

EFCC had, in a fresh 50-count charge on Friday, accused Sylva, alongside Francis Okukoro, Gbenga Balogun and Samuel Ogbuku, of using three companies, Marlin Maritime Limited, Eat Catering Services Limited, and Haloween-Blue Construction and Logistics Limited, to move about N19.2 billion from Bayelsa State coffers, between 2009-2012, in the pretext of using the money to supplement the salaries of the state government workers.

But another 42-count charge before Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, was on June 10, dismissed and EFCC accused of abuse of court process.

Justice Evoh Chukwu, also of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had earlier struck out another EFCC suit against Sylva involving a N2.5 billion charge, which centred on the same set of transactions as the N19.2 billion.

Open Democracy Network, Nigeria, in the statement, said: “Having lost its case, the EFCC has approached the Federal High Court once again, even though it knows it can never win this matter in a properly constituted court of law. This strange 50-count charge against Sylva constitutes an even greater abuse of court processes and, from every indication, it will suffer same fate as the other frivolous ones. Why?

“Even a fresh lawyer knows that once a case has been dismissed, the only option open to the loser is to go on appeal. It cannot return to the same court or a court of coordinate jurisdiction. Secondly, under the rules of the court, a prosecuting authority has to conclude its investigation before proceeding to court, satisfied that it has a case it can substantiate. Investigations and trials cannot be open-ended. Sylva left office since January 2012, why is it difficult for EFCC to prove anything against him in court?”