Immediate past
Senate President, Dr. Bukonla Saraki on Thursday, opposed an application before
a Federal High Court, Lagos, seeking final forfeiture of two of his Ikoyi,
houses.
The said houses are
located at 17 and 17A McDonald Road, Ikoyi, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of
Lagos State.
The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had obtained an interim order of forfeiture
on the houses in November 2019.
Justice Mohammed
Liman had then adjourned the case for any interested party to appear and show
cause why a permanent order should not be made.
The court had also
ordered that the interim order be published in a national newspaper to alert
such interested parties.
EFCC applied to the
court to forfeit the houses to the government, on the grounds that they were
obtained with loans from GTBank and repaid back with Kwara State fund.
Saraki’s counsel, Mr
Kehinde Ogunwunmiju, SAN, informed the court that he was already a successful
businessman with properties worldwide before he became a senator.
He said that the
EFCC must satisfy the court that the houses formed part of the proceeds of any
unlawful act by the respondent.
Respondent’s Counsel
informed the court that both the interim and the attempted permanent forfeiture
of the two houses were an abuse of court process.
Counsel further
argued that the EFCC was also estopped from re-litigating on the same property
because it had litigated on the same before the Code of Conduct Tribunal ( CCT
) up to the Supreme Court but lost.
He said that Justice
Taiwo Taiwo had made an order restraining EFCC from filing such a case adding
that the order was still subsisting.
Meanwhile, some of
the facts presented by the EFCC before the court are that Saraki while serving
as Governor of Kwara, was deducting N100 million from security votes to defray
the loan.
EFCC counsel, Mr.
Nnaemeka Omenwa argued that the Judgment of the CCT dismissing the case did not
vest property right on Saraki.
He urged the court
not to be persuaded by the argument of counsel but rule in favour of the
applicant.
Liman has adjourned
until April 24 for judgment.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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