A Lagos Federal High Court, has ordered the permanent forfeiture of 56 houses linked to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The Justice Abdulaziz Anka-led court gave the order while ruling on the matter, on Wednesday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission claimed that Diezani acquired the said houses located in Lagos and Port Harcourt between 2011 and 2013 using front companies.
EFCC said the former Minister paid $21,982,224 for the properties, adding that the funds were allegedly from proceeds of crime.
The Commission listed the properties to include 29 terraced houses comprising eight four-bedroomed penthouse apartments, six three-bedroom apartments, two three-bedroom maisonettes, two twin bedroom apartments and one four-bedroom apartment.
Details later…
Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has said that the Nigerian Government is working on extraditing former Petroleum Minister Allison Madueke-Diezani from the UK.
He said this in an interview with The Punch, adding that all of the discovered loot would not amount to more than 15% of what she actually stole from the country.
Magu also blamed his generation for the corruption issue crippling the country.
He said the EFCC is going on a campaign against corruption, to avoid it eating into the next generation.
Read his full statement below:
We are working on the process of Diezani’s extradition. But we have to allow them (the UK government) because we are collaborating. There is the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service in London, and our colleagues, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in America.
We had cause to meet in London. I was there myself for about a week. We are working not only on the Diezani case; but the Diezani case has become a test case.
It is even more notorious than the so-called Abacha loot because we have not seen anything yet. I’m sure what we have seen is not more than may be 15 per cent. I think it is going to be a long time.
That is why sometimes I think we should appeal to the looters to return the loot. Come and tell the government, ‘This is what I have stolen.’ Since you have voluntarily complied with the instruction to bring back the loot, then the government will take a decision. I think it is the best way to go about it, otherwise, the monies would be wasted.
Diezani has a lot of people who are well connected, like (Jide) Omokore who are international businessmen. They have private aircraft and you can’t see any of them in Nigeria. They went and kept them in Ghana, some of them.
But we are working with almost all law enforcement agencies in the world. They are all willing to work with us because what I told them is, ‘As long as you have any (claim) of criminality in Nigeria, call us.’
We will go after the criminals because we don’t wait for protocol. Delay is dangerous; when you delay you will not see it. So, we are ready to cooperate with everybody and people have shown willingness.
Last time I went to the international convention, they said Nigeria should show it experience. So, the whole world at the United Nations level wants to hear our asset recovery experience.
I sometimes tell people, this rubbish called corruption was caused by my generation. It is our duty to remove it before the next generation, so that the next generation will have a better life.
We are going into massive campaign against corruption. We have seen some good results. People are beginning to change. We want to beg you, let us sustain the momentum. We all have the responsibility to do that.
It is about our people and the future of this country. We should do the right thing and give away our today for the better life of the next generation.
Ace musician, Charles Oputa, also known as Charlyboy, alongside his OurMumuDonDo protesters have stormed the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in Abuja to demand the repatriation of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke.
The former Minister who served during the administration of ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan, is undergoing investigations over alleged fraud committed while she was in office.
Recently, a Lagos Federal High Court ordered the forfeiture of some property linked to Diezani because they were believed to have been acquired using proceeds of stolen wealth.
Details shortly…
Former Petroleum Minister Allison Madueke-Diezani has said that she has never stolen from the Federal Government of Nigeria. She said this in a statement issued by her yesterday, Daily Post reports.
Diezani said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has never served her with an order or any evidence linking her to the recovered funds.
She has said that the Banana Island properties also do not belong to her, saying: “I cannot forfeit what was never mine.”
Read the full statement below:
I wish to state I cannot forfeit what was never mine.
I do not know the basis on which the EFCC has chosen to say that I am the owner of these funds as no evidence was provided to me before the order was obtained, and they have not, in fact, served me with the order or any evidence since they obtained it.
Let me re-state categorically as I have always maintained, for the record, I have not and will never steal money from or defraud the Federal Government of Nigeria. I am willing to respond to charges brought against me that follow duly laid down procedures.
Let me once again state for the record that this is another figment of the author’s imagination, which, given the persistent bid to ensure my destruction and stick all of the sins of the corruption that plagued oil and gas sector in the last 30 years upon my head, probably emanated from the EFCC itself.
Let me clear the history of OPL 245, otherwise known as Malibu. You will find a full chronology in the attached report that I made to the House of Representatives in late 2011 (Annex 2A/Annex-2B).
In 2010, shortly after I was appointed as Minister of Petroleum Resources, the issue of OPL 245 was brought to my attention. I looked into the case and immediately became aware of the inherent and long standing sensitivities around this issue.
It became clear from the onset that this case was not within the direct purview of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, but, in the main, was centered around issues of law.
By this time, there was already an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID) investigation and claims against the FGN running into billions of dollars.
Therefore, we took directives from the Chief Legal Officer of the nation; the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. In all of these matters due process was followed to the letter at all times.
I wish to categorically state that I have never held any discussions on this matter, with any individuals or entities outside of official channels.
As Minister of Petroleum Resources, I did not participate in any activity relating to financial payments on the Malibu matter, other than those statutorily mandated to the Minister of Petroleum Resources by the Petroleum Act.
My role in this matter was purely a statutory, one as required by law in the Petroleum Act 3.
In response, I have chosen not to insult, accuse or demonize any person or persons. In spite of all the allegations that have been made against me, not one has been factually proven.
I remain very proud of the fact that all the policies, tenets and plans that I initiated in the oil and gas sector are still underpinning the entire structure. This is because they were put in place with the good of the entire nation and its people in mind.
They were not factional or tribal, neither were they based on religious bias.
I am a woman from the Niger Delta, who, through perseverance and sheer hard work rose to one of the highest positions in the country’s premier international oil company, and in tune with my ethos of hard work, I earned the prestigious British Foreign and Commonwealth Chevening Scholarship Award and was, thereafter, admitted to my MBA programme at the World renowned Cambridge University.
This week, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it had traced at least N47.2billion and $487.5million in cash and property to the former Minister.
But PDP’s spokesperson, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said the party would remain quiet on the allegations against Diezani and other members of the party, who were being tried for corruption.
He made this known at a press briefing at the National headquarters of the party in Abuja on Friday.
Adeyeye stated that it was wrong for the anti-corruption agency, to organise a media trial for the alleged looters.
“The only thing you need to do today is to defect to the APC and all your sins would be forgiven. All APC members are saints and others are sinners.
“How can the EFCC make allegations and convict us by itself? It is the one making allegations and it is the one convicting people.
“Until a court of competent jurisdiction pronounces the suspects guilty, they remain just suspects and innocent as well. So, we won’t talk about those issues.
“If there is a genuine case against her or any other person, please go to court and establish that they are corrupt. You can’t just claim that you have found someone with money you suspect was illegally acquired and pronounce such person guilty. You need to go to court and establish it,” he said.
The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered former petroleum minister Allison-Madueke Diezani to forfeit a $37.5 million property belonging to her, located in Banana Island.
According to our source, the court also ordered that $2,740,197.96 and N84,537,840.70 realised as rents on the property also be forfeited.
The court had earlier in the month ordered the seizure of both the property and the sums of money.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) lawyer Anselem Ozioko had told the court that despite the anti-graft agency’s effort to personally serve the second and third respondents of the case, Afamefuna Nwokedi, and a company, Rusimpex Limited respectively, they did not show up at the court to contest the forfeiture order.
“In summary, it appears as if they are not willing to contest this application,” Ozioko said.
The judge Justice Chuka Obiozor ordered the forfeiture, saying: “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.”
Source
Punch
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