The Judge held that the former Minister failed to show cause why the jewellery should not be forfeited to the Federal Government.
In his application for the final forfeiture order, EFCC counsel Rotimi Oyedepo had told the judge that the items were reasonably suspected to have been acquired with the proceeds of unlawful activities of the former minister.
An investigator with the Commission, Rufai Zaki, in an affidavit before the court insisted that the jewellery were beyond the former minister’s “known and provable lawful income.”
The Investigator further said that findings by the EFCC showed that she started acquiring the jewellery in 2012, two years after she was appointed Minister.
The Investigator also said that the EFCC had the details of the bank account through which Alison-Madueke received her salary as a minister.
“The respondent did not utilise her salary or any part of her legitimate income to acquire the assets sought to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” Zaki said.
He said a “damning intelligence report” received by the Commission led to the search of the former minister’s house at No. 10 Fredrick Chiluba Close, Asokoro, Abuja.
The Former Minister on her part had challenged the seizure of the jewellery from her premises by the EFCC.
An affidavit filed on her behalf by her counsel, Professor Awa Kalu (SAN), Diezani, who is currently in the United Kingdom, alleged that the EFCC violated her fundamental “right to own property and to appropriate them at her discretion,” under sections 43 and 44 of the constitution.
She also accused the anti-graft agency of entering her apartment illegally and taking the items without any court order.
0 Comment(s)