Dr. Bukola Saraki
By Kemi O. Showunmi, Lagos and Shola Akingboye, Abuja
The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the forfeiture of two properties belonging to the former Senate President, Bukola Saraki following a judgement delivered by Justice Mohammed Liman on Monday.
The court declared the temporary forfeiture order following an ex parte application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The EFCC said the landed property “lying and known as No. 17A McDonald Road, Ikoyi,” was reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activity.
It alleged in a supporting affidavit that Saraki, who served two terms as Kwara State Governor between 2003 and 2011, “withdrew over N12bn cash from the account of the Kwara State Government and paid same into his accounts domiciled in Access and Zenith Banks through one of his personal assistants, Abdul Adama, at different intervals.”
The EFCC lawyer, Nnaemeka Omewa, said the court was empowered to order the temporary forfeiture of the landed asset to the Federal Government.
Justice Liman agreed with him. After ordering the temporary forfeiture of the property, the judge directed the EFCC to publish the order in a national newspaper.
He gave 14 days for Saraki or anyone interested in the property to appear before him to show cause why the property should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has stated that his attention has been drawn to an order said to have been granted by a Federal High Court in Lagos for a temporary forfeiture of his property on 17A McDonald Road, Ikoyi, following an ex-parte application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki stated that the Federal High Court in Lagos must have been misled into granting that order as neither him nor his lawyers were aware of any application by the EFCC for any forfeiture order.
He said there is a subsisting court order issued by the Federal High Court, Abuja, in which the same property was a subject matter and where the EFCC and the Federal Ministry of Justice were parties. The court in that case gave an order restraining the EFCC from taking any further action until the matter is determined.
“We are sure the FHC judge in Lagos was not aware of all these facts and has therefore been misled into giving the temporary forfeiture order. The affected property, House Number 17 A and 17B, was specifically listed in the case against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal in which the EFCC was part of the prosecution and the case went up to the Supreme Court where the apex court in its July 6, 2018 judgement ruled in his favour.
“The Supreme Court has ruled that the source of funds for the purchase of the property was not illicit as claimed by the prosecution. On pages 12, 13 and 26 of the judgement of the highest court, this particular property on 17A McDonald Street, Ikoyi, was specifically referred to and the court upheld the no case submission of Dr. Saraki and therefore ruled in his favour.
“We know that any action which tends to mislead the court amounts to misrepresentation and it is a good ground for us to get the Court to throw away the order it issued today. We are sure the order will be reversed.
“We therefore call on all the friends, associates and supporters of Dr. Saraki to remain calm because we know this action will not stand when the court gets to hear the side of the former Senate President”, Saraki stated
