He was suspended when Ramon Abbas, alias Hushpuppi, allegedly orchestrated a $1.1 million fraud involving him.
Following a combined motion by the prosecution and other defendants in the case, the US District Court for the Central District of California set the case for hearing.
Following the controversy surrounding the petition filed in the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking Kyari’s extradition, it is still unclear if he would be extradited.
The extradition hearing for Abba Kyari has been set for April 27.
Ruling on March 29, 2022, the judge, Otis Wright, agreed that not granting the parties’ request could “deny the defense counsel the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence.”
He also said it “would unreasonably deny defendant continuity of counsel” and could make “proceeding impossible or result in a miscarriage of justice” if the court rejected the postponement request.
The judge, therefore, postponed the trial from May 17, 2022, to October 11, 2022.
“Defendants shall appear in Courtroom 5D of the Federal Courthouse, 350 W. 1st Street, Los Angeles, California on October 11, 2022, at 9:00 a.m.,” the judge ordered in the ruling, a copy of which PREMIUM TIMES obtained on Friday.
This is the second time the court will adjourn the trial.
The court originally fixed October 12, 2021, to hear the case but based on the parties’ request, the court had shifted the trial to May 17, 2022, and, in the latest ruling, to October 11, 2022.
The three co-defendants who joined the prosecution to call for the postponement are all US-based.
The co-defendants – Rukayat Fashola (aka Morayo), Bolatito Agbabiaka (aka Bolamide), and Yusuf Anifowoshe (aka AJ and Alvin Johnson) – have been released from custody on bail ahead of trial.
The rest of the defendants –Kyari, Abdulrahman Juma, and Kelly Chibuzo Vincent – are outside the US and “remain at large”, the American prosecuting authorities have said.
Even though Kyari and two of the defendants were still at large, the prosecution hoped to finish the trial in six days.
The petitioners claimed in their joint plea last year that the US government had already given over to the defense roughly 2.31 GB of data containing 2,707 electronic files, justifying their request for a trial postponement.
The prosecution were also analyzing around 6,773 pages of further information likely to be presented for the trial, according to the statement.
