Gist
Appeal court Rejects EFCC’s Plea to Freeze Ozekhome’s Account
The Lagos division of the courtroom of enchantment has dismissed a case filed by the Monetary and Financial Crimes Price (EFCC) looking for to freeze the account of Mike Ozekhome, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
The EFCC had, in February 2016, obtained an ex parte order of forfeiture freezing Ozekhome’s Guarantee Perception Checking account.
Although the senior lawyer had argued and confirmed proof that he acquired N75 million as value from Ayodele Fayoye, former Ekiti state governor, as expert prices for approved suppliers, the payment claimed that the money was a proceed of crime.
Nonetheless, Abdulaziz Anka, select of a federal extreme courtroom sitting in Lagos, lifted the freezing order in April 2017.
Delivering judgment on Friday, May 14, 2021, the appellate courtroom led by Chidi Nwaoma Uwa, dismissed EFCC’s enchantment.
The courtroom, in its findings, well-known that the checking account from which Fayose paid the costs had no financial obligation as on the time the money was transferred to the senior lawyer.
The appellate courtroom held that the lower courtroom from which the freezing order was obtained, did not have the requisite jurisdiction to have granted such order throughout the first case.
The courtroom moreover held that the talked about sum of N75 million was lawful proceeds for approved suppliers duly rendered to Fayose by Ozekhome, and by no means proceeds of unlawful train.
The courtroom of enchantment further held that the respondent (Ozekhome) was denied truthful listening to sooner than the order affecting him was made ex parte.
It moreover added that an ex parte order is predicted to be transient, because it’s an interim measure, and that the lower courtroom was correct to have discharged the order it earlier made sooner than its lifespan of 120 days, having found that it had been misled in granting related, primarily based totally on suppression of material data by the EFCC.
