(Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. Photo by Vanguard News)
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to ignore the acquittal of former Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke by a UK court.
It says the judgment has no bearing on the ongoing forfeiture case over assets linked to her.
The commission made this point in a further counter-affidavit opposing Diezani’s request to tender the June 17 judgment of the Southwark Crown Court in London, which cleared her of bribery and corruption allegations.
Justice Inyang Ekwo had allowed her on July 1 to present the UK judgment as evidence.
The EFCC said the London case is not being heard in any Nigerian court and has nothing to do with the suit before the court.
It asked the judge to dismiss her application and her supplementary affidavit, and called some of her claims misleading.
According to the EFCC, the assets were sold under final forfeiture orders made by Justice C.A. Obiozor on July 9, 2019, and Justice I.N. Oweibo on September 10, 2019.
It said these orders are still valid and have not been set aside.
It added that it published notices in newspapers asking anyone with an interest to show why the assets should not be forfeited before the final orders were made.
The commission said the properties were sold in line with due process.
Diezani, on her part, wants the court to order the EFCC to take back properties that were sold to third parties.
In the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023, filed by her lawyer, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, she said the EFCC began selling her assets without giving her a fair hearing.
She claimed the forfeiture orders were obtained through misrepresentation and by hiding important facts.
She also said she has never been convicted of any crime to justify taking her properties, and that the courts had no power to make the orders without hearing her.
She said she has been outside Nigeria since 2015 for medical treatment and was never served the court papers.
She added that the orders were made on the civil standard of proof, which is lower than the standard for criminal cases, and that she has three suits against the EFCC pending in Lagos, so the assets should not have been sold while the orders were being challenged.
The EFCC said criminal cases have been filed against her in Nigerian courts over her time as a public servant, including FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018 at the Federal High Court and HC/ADYL/56C/2017 at the Adamawa State High Court.
Justice Ekwo adjourned the matter until November 11 to hear the pending applications.
