The Independent Corrupt Practices
and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) misled the court into granting an
order of temporal forfeiture of assets being linked to Haruna Momoh, former
managing director of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), the
lawyer has alleged.
Ade Adedeji, a senior advocate of
Nigeria (SAN), said the ICPC is only seeking cheap publicity.
He is representing Blaid group,
the company owned by Ochuko, Momoh’s wife, whose assets are being linked to the
husband.
He said the ICPC failed to inform
the federal capital territory (FCT) high court about a previous order granted
by Binta Nyako, a judge of the federal high court, directing the commission to
refrain from investigation and release assets belonging to Blaid construction
company and Ochuko Momoh.
“ICPC had appealed the judgment through
filing of notice of appeal. But rather than prosecute their appeal, they
surreptitiously approached the FCT high court and misled the court as if the
appeal never existed,” he said.
“And without disclosing to the
new court that there was a judgment of the federal high court against them,
they moved the court ex-parte to grant an order of temporary forfeiture.”
Describing the move by ICPC to
obtain a forfeiture order as “an abuse of court process”, Adedeji said it is a
means to score cheap publicity while boosting their image as “hard-working and
crime busters”.
He said steps are being taken to
vacate the order of temporary forfeiture.
The lawyer said: “We are also
considering filing petitions against counsel involved in misrepresenting facts
to court to obtain ex-parte order which ordinarily would not have been
granted.”
Meanwhile, a statement by
Rasheedat Okoduwa, the spokesperson for the commission, on Monday had said
investigations revealed that the former PPMC MD misused his office to enrich
himself, using several companies, including Blaid Property Limited and Blaid
Construction Limited.
Momoh’s lawyers have denied any
wrongdoing, insisting that the wife is being persecuted in an attempt to get to
the husband.
All the businesses under probe,
the lawyers said, belong to the wife and the husband never had anything to do
with them.
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