The EFCC had in July 2012 approached the
court through an ex- parte application, requesting for an order forfeiting the
Ibori bribe which had been lying in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria
for more than five years to the Federal Government as unclaimed proceed of
crime. Following the application, the court on July 24, 2012, ordered the
EFCC to publish an interim order of forfeiture in a national newspaper (Thisday
Newspaper), alerting any one with claim
to the said money to state such claims within 14 days. Three parties, including
the Delta state government indicated interest. While the others have since
abandoned their claim to the Ibori bribe, Delta State
government continues to pursue its claim.
At the resumed hearing of the case on
Wednesday, July 10, the EFCC closed its case, urging Justice Kolawole to
dismiss the claim by the Delta State government to the fifteen million U.S
Dollars Ibori bribe and order the final forfeiture of the sum to the Federal Government,
in line with provisions of section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other
Related Offences Act, 2006.
It submitted that the Delta State
government’s claim to the bribe lacked merit as the same government had in 2007
instituted an action against the Commission and the Attorney General of the
Federation, stating that Ibori should not be investigated and that the state
had lost no money from its treasury.
“ My Lord, it is too late for the Delta
State Attorney General to lay claim to this money because of his action where
he instituted a case against the Commission saying the governor should not be
investigate”, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN. Counsel to the EFCC stated.
Jacob went on to reveal that in
paragraph 10 of the affidavit deposed in the said case by the Delta State
Attorney General, it was stated that the state Accountant General, after a
thorough investigation, had concluded that no money was lost and that they have
no complaint of any missing money.
The EFCC counsel further averred that the Commission having unequivocally stated
that the money was given as a bribe and that no one has come up to claim
ownership, Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences has
given the court power to order the final forfeiture of the money to the Federal
Government.
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