A Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday fixed July 16, 2021, for the arraignment of British-American Tobacco Nigeria Ltd (BATN) and its Risk Manager Austin Okonji for alleged perversion of the course of justice.
Justice Lewis Allagoa fixed the date following a three-count charge filed against Okonji and the tobacco firm by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).
The FCCPC alleged that the duo committed the offence on or about January 25, 2021, at their Lagos office on No. 2, Olumegbon Close, Ikoyi Lagos.
It claimed that they perverted the cause of justice by obstructing and impeding the police and FCCPC officials from executing a search warrant issued on December 29, 2020, and renewed on January 5, 2021, by an Abuja division of the Court, in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1662/2020.
The first count on the charge reads in part: “That you British American Tabacco Nigeria Ltd and Austin Okonji ‘M’ on Olumegbon Close Ikoyi Lagos State on or about the 25th day of January 2021, at No. 2, Olumegbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos, did obstruct and impede access to the Authorised Officers of the FCCPC in the execution of a search warrant issued by an Order of the Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division made in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1662/2020 on 29th December 2020 and renewed on 5th January 2021, which Warrant was issued pursuant to Sections 2 and 29 of the FCCPC Act 2018 and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 28(5) of the FCCPC Act, 2018 and punishable under the same Act.
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