Federal High Court, Lagos, presided by Justice Babs Kuewumi, has ordered temporary forfeiture of a landed property, valued N325 million, allegedly belonging to former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, to the Federal Government of Nigeria, The Guardian NG reports.
Justice Kuewumi granted the order of temporary forfeiture of the property yesterday sequel to a motion filed and argued by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) counsel, Anslem Oziokor, on a vacant plot of land said to be at Plot 13, Block 11, Oniru Chieftaincy Family Private Estate, Lekki, Lagos.
The report said the EFCC had in the motion ex-parte, marked FHC/L/CS/811/18, sought for an interim order of the court forfeiting to the Federal Government the assets and property named and described in the schedule to the application which property and assets are “reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.”
Oziokor, who in the affidavit sought an order authorising the commission to appoint a competent person (s) or firm to manage the assets, also sought for an order of the court directing the applicant to notify the person (s) in whose possession the property sought to be forfeited to appear before the court and show cause within 14 days why the property should not be forfeited to the Federal Government or in the alternative, an order directing the publication in any national newspaper of the interim order.
Justice Kuewumi, while granting the application for interim forfeiture of the property, further ruled that the order must be published in a national newspaper for anybody who has interest in the property to come forward and show cause why the property should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.He, therefore, fixed July 24, 2018 for the return date.
