A federal high court sitting in
Owerri, Imo state capital, has ordered final forfeiture of Dews of Hope
Hospital, Owerri, a N1.5 billion state-of-the-art 200-bed hospital, allegedly
linked to an aide of Rochas Okorocha, a former governor of Imo state and
serving senator.
Based on an application filed by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), T.G Ringin, judge of a
federal high court in Port Harcourt, had given an interim forfeiture of the
property on August 22, 2019.
The EFCC had told the court that
it had evidence that the facility was acquired through “proceeds of illicit
activities”, saying funds from government house, Owerri were traced to the
hospital.
The commission said its
investigation revealed that Paschal Obi, former permanent secretary and
principal secretary to Okorocha was a signatory to the accounts.
Obi, now a serving member of the
house of representatives, has denied ownership of the medical facility.
Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the
EFCC, said when he honoured the invitation of the commission, the managing
director of the hospital, could not also explain how the project was funded.
“These developments led the
Commission to file for the forefeiture of the property on July 25, 2019 under
Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud,and Other Related Offences Act 2006,”
Uwujaren said in a statement.
“In granting the request for the
interim forfeiture of the property, the court ordered the anti-graft agency to
publish the Order in a national newspaper, which was accordingly complied with
in the Nation Newspaper of August 30, 2019 and Leadership Newspaper of
September 3,2019 respectively, asking interested parties to show cause why the
property should not be forfeited to the federal government within fourteen days
from the dates of the publications.
“Upon the expiration of the
fourteen day notice and with no one showing interest in the hospital, the
Commission filed for the final forfeiture of the facility.”
Below are pictures of the
hospital:
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com