Visa Scam: Lagos AG Denies Delaying Convicted American’s Trial

The Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, LawalPedro (SAN), has denied the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) ‘s claim that, while in private practice, he was responsible for several adjournments in the trial of an American, Marco Ramirez, who was convicted last week in Lagos for a $1.2 million EB-5 visa scam.

Ramirez, a Nigeria-based American businessman, was on September 10, 2024, convicted and sentenced to 74 years in prison by Justice MojisolaDada of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja.

The foreigner was jailed along with his companies, USA NOW LLC, Eagle Ford Group LP, and USA Now Energy Capital Group LP, for defrauding some Nigerians through the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) US Investor Programme.

Ramirez, who was initially arraigned by the EFCC on June 22, 2017, before Justice Josephine Oyefeso of the Ikeja High Court in Lagos, was later re-arraigned before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court in 2019 on an amended 12-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences.

During the trial, the convict engaged Pedro’s services, who handled his defence until 2023, when he was appointed Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos state.

But the EFCC claimed in a statement issued by its Spokesman to celebrate its victory that the trial had faced numerous adjournments due to Pedro and the defence’s failure to file their final written addresses promptly, despite the prosecution counsel, M.S. Owede and S.O. Daji, having filed theirs.

In his reaction, the Lagos AG denied the allegation, claiming that the court’s record shows that he concluded the trial diligently and that the statement made by the EFCC was an attempt to mislead the public and cast aspersion on him.

He said, “Yes, the report was brought to my attention by my son, who is also in legal practice, and he wondered why I made the case suffer several adjournments as reported despite my frequent admonition of counsel to avoid delay in cases.

“I have read the report, and it is mischievous. It is concerning the judgment in favour of EFCC. The report is a one-sided story of the case, as usual. But giving a wrong and misleading report to disparage me is most unfortunate, disappointing and least expected from the Commission.’’