The Federal High Court in Lagos, on
Wednesday, ordered the temporary forfeiture of a property at Banana
Island, Lagos, bought for $37.5m in 2013 by a former Minister of
Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The property, designated as Building 3,
Block B, Bella Vista Plot 1, Zone N, Federal Government Layout, Banana
Island Foreshore Estate, has 24 apartments, 18 flats and six penthouses,
according to court papers presented on Tuesday by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission.
Apart from the property, the court also ordered the temporary forfeiture
of the sums of $2,740,197.96 and N84,537,840.70, said to be part of the
rent collected on the property.
The funds were said to have been found in a Zenith Bank account number 1013612486.
Justice Chuka Obiozor gave the temporary
forfeiture orders on Wednesday, following an ex parte application to
that effect brought before him by a counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Anselem
Ozioko.
Ozioko had told the judge that the EFCC
reasonably suspected that the property was acquired with proceeds of
alleged unlawful activities of Diezani.
The lawyer said investigation by the
EFCC revealed that Diezani made the $37.5m payment for the purchase of
the property in cash.
It added that the money was moved straight from her house in Abuja and paid into the seller’s First Bank account in Abuja.
“Nothing could be more suspicious than
someone keeping such huge amounts in her apartment. Why was she doing
that, to avoid attention?“We are convinced beyond reasonable doubt because, as of the time this happened, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was still in public service
as the Minister of Petroleum Resources,” Ozioko told Justice Obiozor.
The ex parte application, taken before
the judge, was filed pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and
other related Offences Act, No. 14, 2006 and Section 44(2)(k) of the
constitution.
Listed as respondents in the application are Diezani; a legal practitioner, Afamefuna Nwokedi; and a company, Rusimpex Limited.In a 41-paragraph affidavit attached to the application, an
investigative officer with the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, alleged that
Nwokedi, in connivance with Diezani, purposely incorporated the company,
Rusimpex Limited, on September 11, 2013, to facilitate the alleged
fraud scheme.According to Bawa, when Nwokedi was questioned by the EFCC, the lawyer
explained that he had approached Diezani for opportunities in the oil
and gas industry but the ex-minister told him that being a lawyer, she
did not have any such opportunity for him and asked him whether he
could, in the alternative, manage landed properties, an offer which
Nwokedi accepted.
Bawa said Nwokedi later registered
Rusimpex Limited at the Corporate Affairs Commission, and named a lawyer
in his law firm, Adetula Ayokunle, and a Russian, Vladmir Jourauleu, as
the directors.
He added that the address of Nwokedi’s law firm in Ikoyi, Lagos, was registered as the business address of Rusimpex Limited.The investigator added that when Ayokunle was questioned by the EFCC, he
explained that he only appended his signature to the CAC documents at
his boss’ instruction, while Jourauleu denied knowledge of the company.The investigator stated, “Sometime in 2013, the former Minister of
Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, invited Barrister
Afamefuna Nwokedi, the Principal Counsel Stillwaters Law Firm, to her
house in Abuja for a meeting, where she informed the said Barrister
Afamefuna Nwokedi to incorporate a company and use same as a front to
manage landed properties on her behalf without using her name in any of
the incorporation documents.
She further directed Mr. Afamefuna Nwokedi to meet with Mr. Bisi
Onasanya, the (former) Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria
Plc for that purpose.
Mr. Stephen Onasanya was invited by the commission and he came and
volunteered an extrajudicial statement wherein he stated that he
marketed a property at Bella Vista, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos,
belonging to Mr. Youseff Fattau of Ibatex Nigeria Limited to Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke and Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke later bought the
property from Mr. Youseff Fattau, through her lawyer, Mr. Afamefuna
Nwokedi (who she introduced to him) and that payment for the said
property was made through the Abuja office of First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
.“First Bank of Nigeria Plc, through Mr. Barau Muazu, wrote to the
commission and also volunteered an extrajudicial statement in writing
that it made the payments totalling US37,500,000 to Ibatex Nigeria
Limited & Y. F. Construction Development and Real Estate Limited on
behalf of Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and that they (officials)
collected the entire cash from Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke at her
residence No. 10 Fredrick Chiluba Close, off Jose
Marti Street, Asokoro, Abuja, and paid
into the First Bank of Nigeria Plc accounts of Ibatex and Y. F.
Construction Development and Real Estate Limited on her instructions.”
After listening to the EFCC lawyer,
Ozioko, on Wednesday, Justice Obiozor made an order temporarily seizing
the property and the funds.
He directed that the order should be published in a national newspaper
and adjourned till August 7, 2017, for anyone interested in the property
and funds to appear before him.
Source Punch Newspaper.
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