The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed October 23 for hearing in a suit filed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to challenge the seizure of her assets by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed the date on Wednesday after Diezani’s lawyer, Benson Igbanoi, and EFCC counsel, M.D. Baraya, regularised their processes.
The suspended chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, had revealed that $153m and over 80 properties were recovered from Diezani.
Though the EFCC said Diezani fled to the UK in 2015 in the twilight of the ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in which she served as minister, to escape arrest, Diezani maintained that her movement to the UK was to treat breast cancer.
In the suit, filed through her lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, Diezani is also urging the court to set aside the bench warrant issued against her on July 24, 2020.
She accused the EFCC of concealing facts to obtain the bench warrant, contending that she was not on the run but travelled to the United Kingdom in 2015 to get treatment after being diagnosed with “the most aggressive form of breast cancer — Triple Negative Cancer.”
She contended that she was not given fair hearing before the EFCC moved the court to forfeit her assets to the Federal Government.
“The several applications upon which the courts made the final order of forfeiture against the applicant were obtained upon gross misstatements, misrepresentations, non-disclosure, concealment and suppression of material facts and this honourable court has the power to set-aside same ex debito justitiae, as a void order is as good as if it was never made at all,” Diezani contended.
But the EFCC, in a counter-affidavit by a detective, Rufai Zakj, urged the court to dismiss the application.
He said, contrary to her deposition in the affidavit in support, most of the cases, which led to the final forfeiture of the contested property “were action in rem, same were heard at various times and determined by this honourable court.”
He said the courts differently ordered the commission to do a newspaper publications inviting parties to show cause why the said property should not be forfeited to the Federal Government, before final orders were made.
Zaki said investigations had clearly shown that the ex-minister was involved in some acts of criminality, which led to forfeiture of the proceedings.
The EFCC maintains that the disposal of the properties followed due process of law, adding that none of the forfeiture orders had been set aside on appeal.
Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed October 23 for hearing.
The PUNCH had reported that among other things, the EFCC secured the forfeiture of 2,149 pieces of jewellery and a customised gold iPhone, valued at $40m, recovered from Diezani’s Abuja home by the EFCC.
