The Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed 23 October for hearing a suit filed by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, challenging the order obtained by the EFCC for final forfeiture of her seized assets.
The auctioning exercise, conducted on the seized assets believed to include Diezani’s property, started on 9 January. In the motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023, dated and filed on 6 January by her lawyer, Mr Ozekhome, the former minister sought five orders from the court.The former minister, who argued that the various orders were made without jurisdiction, said these “ought to be set aside ex debito justitiae.
“The several applications upon which the courts made the final order of forfeiture against the applicant were obtained upon gross misstatements, misrepresentations, non-disclosure, concealment and suppression of material facts, and this honourable court has the power to set aside same ex debito justitiae, as a void order is as good as if it was never made at all.
Mr Zaki, a member of the team that investigated a case of criminal conspiracy, official corruption and money laundering against the ex-minister and some other persons involved in the case, said the investigation had clearly shown that she was involved in some acts of criminality.