Former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, and his two sons, have been discharged by Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal over N712 million money laundering charges.
The appellate court led by Adamu Waziri ruled that the trial court should not have heard the suit because the offence committed was not within its territorial jurisdiction.
Mr Lamido and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, were slammed with 37 counts of money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2015.
The anti-graft agency closed its case in 2022 after calling 16 witnesses.
Meanwhile, the defendants filed a no-case submission stating that the prosecution did not place sufficient evidence before the court.
The trial judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu, dismissed the no-case submission on September 20, 2022, and ordered the defendants to open their defence because they had a case to answer.
The defendants, however, appealed the ruling.
The Appeal Court, in its ruling, stated that the money laundering cases should have been filed in Jigawa State, where the offences were allegedly committed.
The court ruled that the no-case submission filed by the defendants was laudable.
The court, therefore, went ahead to discharge Mr Lamido and his sons.