Mike Ozekhome, human rights lawyer and
senior advocate of Nigeria Tuesday was ‘rattled’ by Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission.
Justice Abdulaziz Anka of the federal high court in Lagos has ordered a
temporary forfeiture of N75million from the bank account of Ozekhome domiciled with
Guaranty Trust Bank.
Anka gave the ruling on a motion ex-parte filed by the anti-graft
agency on the ground that the money deposited in the said account December 15,
2016, is suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Rotimi Oyedepo filed the application while Idris Mohammed, counsel
to EFCC informed the court that the application was brought pursuant to section
29 of the EFCC Act.
According to Mohammed, three
exhibits marked: 01, 02 and 03 were
attached to the motion ex-parte, while an affidavit of urgency sworn to by an
investigator of the agency, Tosin Owobo, was also attached to the application.
He therefore urged the
court to grant the motion ex-parte and order a temporary forfeiture of funds in
the account for 120 days.
Delivering a bench
ruling on the motion, Anka ordered that Ozekhome’s account with the sum of N75
million be forfeited for 120 days.
The judge however said
that any party, dissatisfied with the ruling, could file an appeal.
But, Ozekhome said he
was one of the lawyers, who defended Ayo Fayose, governor of Ekiti state when
the governor’s Zenith Bank accounts were frozen by the anti-graft agency.
Ozekhome vowed to drag EFCC
before the court for alleging that N75million found in his frozen bank account
was proceeds of crime.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the lawyer explained
that the money which was freezed on the order of Justice Anka of the federal high
court, Lagos was part payment for professional services he rendered to Governor
Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.
He
described insinuation by the anti-graft agency that the fund was proceed of
money laundering, as “an invidious lie from the pit of hell”.
His
words: “It is with rude shock and personal sense of consternation that my
attention has just been drawn to online publications with numerous calls from
Nigerians, that my account containing N75 million domiciled with GTBank has
been temporarily frozen, allegedly based on an ex-parte order obtained by the
EFCC from the Honourable Justice Abdulazeez Anka of the Federal High Court,
Lagos.”
“It is alleged that the said sum
of N75 million is ‘’suspected’’ to be the proceeds of crime or that it is from
money laundering. This is an invidious lie from the pit of hell.
“For the records, the N75 million
was paid into my account by my client, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State,
as part payment of Professional Fees for the numerous cases my chambers is
currently handling for him (in his personal capacity) and his aides across
Nigeria. The money is neither ‘’suspected proceeds of crime’’ nor of money
laundering.
“On the 13th day of December,
2016, I defeated the EFCC in a judgment delivered by the Honourable Justice
Taiwo O Taiwo, sitting at the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti. In his judgment
dated 13th December, 2016, the court ordered the EFCC to immediately defreeze
two accounts belonging to Governor Fayose and domiciled with Zenith Bank Plc,
which accounts EFCC had, illegally , unconstitutionally, an in a most uncouth
and cavalier manner frozen and blocked in Zenith Bank Plc.
The court described the action of
the EFCC as ‘’illegal, wrongful, unconstitutional and unlawful’’.
“Rotimi Oyedepo, the same lawyer
who was said to have obtained the ex-parte order blocking my account from
Honourable Justice Abdulazeez Anka, is the very counsel for the EFCC in the
case I won for Governor Fayose before the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti.
“After the accounts were defrozen
by the judgment of the court, I urged Governor Fayose to make part payment of
N100 million for the numerous cases I am handling for him and his aides across
Nigeria, but which he did not have funds to pay for.
“He then transferred, with the
cooperation of Zenith Bank Plc, which was actually the 2nd Defendant in the
suit, the sum of N75 million as part payment of my Professional Fees.
“I have since utilized the funds
for the payment of salaries, school fees of my children schooling in Nigeria
and abroad, with spirally inflation, and for my Mike Ozekhome Foundation (MOF)
activities.
“On the 19th of January, 2017, Honourable
Justice Taiwo O Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti, took argument on a
motion for injunction pending appeal restraining Governor Fayose from
withdrawing the remaining balance in his said accounts. This same motion was
argued by the same Rotimi Oyedepo.
“The court on the 31st of
January, 2017, dismissed EFCC’s motion. He has now appealed to the Court of
Appeal, Ado Ekiti, with a similar motion. “The present action of EFCC is
clearly calculated to overreach Governor Fayose in the appeal and also to
embarrass and intimidate me from defending Governor Fayose.
“This will never happen. I will
continue to defend beleaguered and oppressed Nigerians from the antics and high
handedness of publicly funded government institutions that breach their
fundamental rights.
“It is sickening and
inconceivable that money legitimately and legally paid by a client to his
Solicitor from an unencumbered account wholly and totally defrozen and
unblocked by the judgment of a competent court of law can be termed “suspected
proceeds of crime or money laundering’’.
“I am a practicing lawyer, not a
government employee, contractor or a business man. I have NEVER laundered and
will NEVER launder any money in my life.
“It is so shameful and disgusting
when we make ourselves a laughing stock before international circles through
brazen unconstitutional acts by publicly funded government institutions, just
to silent all critical voices of reason and plurality of ideas.
“I shall take immediate legal
steps to defreeze the account, in the event that the EFCC does not immediately
voluntarily vacate the said order”.
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