A Federal High
Court, sitting in Lagos ordered permanent forfeiture to the
Federal Government of a $37.5m skyscrapper on the highbrow Banana
Island, Lagos, belonging to former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The Presiding
Judge (Professor) Chuka Obiozor, also ordered that the sums of
$2,740,197.96 and N84,537,840.70 realised as rents on the property
should also be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Justice Chuka Obiozor made the order following a motion on
notice argued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s counsel
(EFCC).
The anti-graft agency had on July 19, 2017, obtained a
court order to temporarily seize the property located at Block B, Bella
Vista Plot 1, Zone N, Federal Government Layout, Banana Island
Foreshore Estate, which is said to have 24 apartments, 18 flats and six
penthouses.
The court
directed that the temporary forfeiture order be published in a
newspaper and then adjourned till today, for anyone interested in the
property and funds to appear to convince the court why the seized items
should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
At the resumed
hearing of the matter today, the EFCC lawyer, Mr. Anselem Ozioko, told
the court that the publication order had been complied with. He however,
stated that no one has contested the forfeiture order.
“In summary, it appears as if they are not willing to contest this application,” Ozioko said.
He urged Justice Obiozor to go ahead and order the
permanent forfeiture of the property and the funds. In a short ruling,
Justice Obiozor granted the orders.
The judge held,
“In the face of the publication, which I find in Exhibit B of the
affidavit of compliance before me, and there being no responses from any
interested party, I have no other option but to grant the orders as
prayed.”
The EFCC had
earlier told the judge that the Banana Island mansion was reasonably
suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities by
Diezani.
The anti-graft
agency said its investigations revealed that Diezani bought the property
sometime in 2013 at the price of $37.5m and paid for it in cash.
According to the
EFCC, the $37.5m was moved straight from Diezani’s house in Abuja and
paid into the selller’s First Bank account in Abuja.
“Nothing could be more suspicious than someone keeping such
huge amounts in her apartment. Why was she doing that? To avoid
attention?.
“We are
convinced beyond reasonable doubt because as of the time this happened,
Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was still in public service as the Minister
of Petroleum Resources,” the EFCC lawyer, Ozioko, had told Justice
Obiozor.
In a
41-paragraph affidavit attached to the application, an investigative
officer with the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, explained that Diezani, in
connivance with one Nwokedi purposely incorporated a company, Rusimpex
Limited, on September 11, 2013 to facilitate the alleged fraud scheme.
Bawa said Nwokedi later registered Rusimpex Limited at the
Corporate Affairs Commission, wherein a lawyer in his law firm, and a
Russian, Vladmir Jourauleu, were listed as the directors of the company.
The investigator explained further that: “Sometime in
2013, the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani
Alison-Madueke, invited Nwokedi, to her house in Abuja for a meeting
where she informed him to incorporate a company and use same as a front
to manage landed properties on her behalf without using her name in any
of the incorporation documents.
Diezani was also
said to have further directed Nwokedi to meet with Mr. Bisi Onasanya,
the Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc for that
purpose.
“Mr. Stephen
Onasanya was invited by the commission and he came and volunteered an
extrajudicial statement wherein he stated that he marketed a property at
Bella Vista, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, belonging to Mr. Youseff
Fattau of Ibatex Nigeria Limited to Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke later bought the property from Mr. Youseff
Fattau, through Nwokedi (who she introduced to him) and that the payment
for the said property was made through the Abuja office of First Bank
of Nigeria Plc.
“First Bank of
Nigeria Plc, through Mr. Barau Muazu, wrote to the commission and also
volunteered an extrajudicial statement in writing that they made the
payments totalling US37,500,000 to Ibatex Nigeria Limited & YF
Construction Development and Real Estate Limited on behalf of Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke and that they collected the entire cash from Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke at her residence of No. 10, Fredrick Chiluba
Close of Jose Marti Street, Asokor, Abuja and paid into the First Bank
of Nigeria Plc accounts of Ibatex and YF Construction Development and
Real Estate Limited on her instructions.
The property is a 15-storey building, which comprises 18 flats and six penthouses.
NAN
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