A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday adjourned the trial of a Lagos-based surgeon, Dr Anuoluwapo Adepoju, charged with evasion from an investigation into an alleged failed plastic surgery.
The defendant is charged alongside her clinic, MedContour Services Ltd., on five counts bordering on refusal to honour an invitation for investigation and failure to produce an investigation document.
She was arraigned on July 3 alongside her medical outfit, before Justice Mohammed Liman.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) had in April sealed the medical outfit, a plastic surgery hospital, over suspicions of illegal activities.
The FCCPC had also in April posted on its official Twitter handle that it had commenced an investigation into a case of failed plastic surgery performed by the first defendant, Anuoluwapo, in her hospital.
After the defendants were arraigned on July 3, the court fixed July 8 for the prosecution to open its case.
The prosecutor, Mr Babatunde Irukera, also the Director-General, FCCPC, had told the court that he had only two witnesses.
However, the case could not proceed on Thursday as scheduled. The court did not sit.
A new date for the trial will be communicated to parties.
In the five-count charge, the prosecution alleged that without sufficient cause, the first defendant failed to appear before the FCCPC in compliance with the commission’s summons dated April 15.
The prosecution also alleged that without sufficient cause, the first defendant failed to produce documents which she was required to produce in compliance with the commission’s notice of investigation dated April 14.
It added that the first defendant obstructed the commission from carrying out its investigation into the said issue.
The alleged offences contravene the provisions of sections 11(1)(a), 33(1)(a), 110, 113(1)(a) and 159(4) of the FCCPC Act, 2018.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
The court granted her bail on self recognizance.
The court had overruled a preliminary objection by the defence, challenging the charge against the defendants.
The judge upheld the submissions of the prosecution that the criminal jurisdiction of the Federal High Court was activated by the provisions of Sections 251(f) of the Constitution.
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