Prior to the remand order, the EFCC had arraigned Prof Iwu  before Justice Chuka Obiozor on a four count charge of concealment, fraud and money laundering of N1.2billion.

In the charge filed against the former INEC Chairman, the EFCC alleged that Professor Iwu aided the concealment of the sum of N1, 203,000,000 between December 2014 and March 2015.

The sum was said to be in the bank account of Bioresources Institute of Nigeria Limited and domiciled in the United Bank for Africa, UBA Plc.

Professor Iwu pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The money is believed to be part of the N23.29b slush fund allegedly shared by former petroleum minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential elections.

The post Court Remands Ex- INEC Boss, Iwu In EFCC Custody first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Court Remands Ex- INEC Boss, Iwu In EFCC Custody appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo made the order after granting a motion exparte application brought before him by the EFCC Prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo.

The EFCC,  in the application noted that the expensive jewelry comprising wristwatches, necklaces, bracelets, bangles, earrings and more were reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities of the former Minister.

The Commission also added that Mrs Allison-Madueke’s known and provable lawful income is far less than the value of the jewellery sought to be forfeited.

In granting the application, Justice Oweibo agreed with the EFCC that the court has the statutory powers under the provision of Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act 2006 to order the forfeiture.

Meanwhile, the judge also ordered the anti-graft commission to publish in any national newspaper the interim order of forfeiture to serve as notice to the former Minister or anyone interested in the assets to be forfeited to appear before the court to show cause within 14days why the assets should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

The court then adjourned further proceedings till August 13.

The post JUST IN : Court orders interim seizure of $40m worth of jewellery belonging to Diezani first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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In suit no FHC/ABJ/CS/228/2016, Benedict Peters and two of his companies, Rosewood Investment limited and Colinwood limited, filed applications before the Honourable Justice Binta Nyako, seeking the discharge of the forfeiture order that she had made in April and June 2016 affecting their properties. The factual summary of the case put before the court was that he is the exclusive and beneficial owner of the following properties:  Flat 5, Parkview, 83-86 Prince Albert Road, London; Flat 58 Harley House, Marylebone Road, London and 270-17 street, Unit #4204, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, that were wrongly included in a list of 19 properties in the order as allegedly belonging to the former minister.

In an application argued on his behalf by Chief Wole Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the court was urged to vacate the orders because EFCC’s premise for alleging that the properties belonged to Allison-Madueke was manifestly unfounded and not supported by any shred of evidence.  Relying on the contentions that EFCC acted “upon gross misstatements, concealment and misrepresentation of facts,” sought and obtained ex-parte an interim order of forfeiture of the properties, Chief Olanipekun argued that “that the mandatory condition precedent to the grant of the interim forfeiture order was not complied with and due process of law was not followed in obtaining the interim order of forfeiture”. For the applicants, it was further asserted that concealment of accurate, relevant information from the judge when the order was made was fatal to EFCC’s case. The applications were based also on a number of significant legal arguments demonstrating the unsustainability of the order.

In her judgement, the Honourable Justice Nyako referred to a decision of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) handed down by Justice Musa in which Peters was a Defendant and declared that “…a subsisting judgement of a Court of coordinate jurisdiction has found and held inter alia that the property listed as Flat 58 Harley House, Marylebone Road, London, and the property listed as Flat 5, Parkview, 83-86 Prince Albert Road, St John’s Wood, London have been subject of the litigation in the suit before the High Court of the FCT, where a judgement of the Court dated 5^th December 2017 was made which orders have declared that, these said properties amongst others having being legitimately acquired by the Defendant, they cannot be forfeited to the government under any circumstances.”

Justice Nyako accordingly directed that “the order of interim forfeiture that was made in this case cannot override or supersede an order of final judgement of a court of coordinate jurisdiction.” The learned judge then ordered that in that event, those properties could not continue to be restrained by the order EFCC had obtained and consequently directed the immediate release of the London properties.

However, with regard to the property in the US, the judge took the view that the property would remain affected by the order until further evidence seemingly in the same mould as that produced to the FCT High Court was placed before the court.  The US property was not dealt with in the FCT case.

This latest court ruling follows other judgements vindicating Mr Peters from the various allegations that have been very publicly aired by EFCC. On December 5, 2017, the High Court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory declared that earnings and assets accruing to him were acquired legally through legitimate sources. Also, on March 21, 2018, an FCT High Court voided EFCC’s unilateral declaration of him as ‘Wanted,’ describing it as ultra vires, unconstitutional and a flagrant violation of his Fundamental rights. On 7 December 2017, another FCT High Court, in a suit brought against him, declared that a donation of $60m he made to a political party was a legitimate donation and did not violate any provisions of the laws of Nigeria.

NJC recommends Abia chief judge, Uzokwe for compulsory retirement over N825,000 gratification

His belief in the primacy of the Rule of Law and inviolability of the judicial process continues to be justified by a series of judicial verdicts and pronouncements supporting his position.  These outcomes have been achieved in various cases in which he has been represented by a robust legal team comprising some of the foremost advocates in the country. The team, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, a former leader of the Nigeria Bar, comprises senior lawyers Kanu Agabi SAN and Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, both former Attorneys General and Ministers of Justice of the Federation, renowned Constitutional and Human Rights Lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, Messrs Paul Usoro, SAN, Rotimi Oguneso SAN and A U Mustapha, SAN.  All Senior Advocates (the equivalents of Queen’s Counsel in the United Kingdom) are distinguished practitioners at the apex of legal practice in Nigeria.  Others lawyers include Ebenezer Obeya, Chief Andrew Oru, Mrs Boma Alabi, Messrs Chidi Nobis-Elendu, Emeka Ozoani and Joseph Nwatu.

Olanipekun, who is described as Nigeria’s Avant-Garde lawyer, is referred to as of Nigeria’s leading trial lawyer.  Kanu Agabi, an accomplished litigator, served Nigeria twice as Attorney General as did Akin Olujinmi whose core practice is also litigation.  Mike Ozekhome’s reputation as one of Nigeria’s foremost Constitutional Law and Human Rights advocates draws from a lifelong career of fighting oppression and injustice through courts and social advocacy.  Paul Usoro is a nationally acclaimed litigation and transaction expert whose core areas span the gamut of commercial law practice. Excellent all-rounders Oguneso (of the stable of Abdullah Ibrahim, SAN, also a former Attorney General of the Federation) and Mustapha make up the team of Senior Advocates.  Others in the team include Security law expert Ebenezer Obeya, dual qualified and former President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association Boma Alabi as well as the combative Andrew Oru.

The post Court Orders Immediate Release of UK Properties Belonging to Aiteo Boss, Benedict Peters first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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