The Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja on Friday reversed the final forfeiture order made against N1,222,384,857.84 linked to Melrose General Services Limited, associated with the much-talked-about Paris Club Refund.
The verdict was delivered in a 3-2 majority decision of the apex court chaired by presiding Justice Inyang Okoro.
This follows an appeal entered by the company through its lawyer, Kehinde Ogunwumiju(SAN).
Appellant’s Case
The appellant had challenged the judgment of the Court of Appeal which ordered the forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government of Nigeria, on the grounds of it being proceeds of an unlawful activity in the Paris Club fund.
Kehinde Ogunwumiju(SAN) told the apex court that the money in dispute was for payment of contractual and consultancy agreement his client had with relevant stakeholders in government.
He maintained that the money involved in the forfeiture suit is not a proceed of any unlawful activity as claimed by the EFCC.
The lawyer prayed for the apex court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
EFCC’s response
As disclosed in EFCC’s website, its counsel, Ekele Iheanacho urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal of the appellant.
He explained that EFCC carried out investigations which revealed that the sum of N3.5 billion was allegedly fraudulently paid to the appellant to carry out a consultancy job for the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, under the guise that the appellant carried out a consultancy job for the NGF entitling it to the money.
He stressed that investigation revealed the consultant did not do any such work after receiving the money but rather made several withdrawals within a short time leaving N1,222,384,857.84 before the EFCC intervened.
“My Lords, we seek the leave of your noble Lordships to undertake a brief overview of the concept of forfeiture granted by the two courts below in a bid to drive home the 1st respondent `s case. There are generally two types of forfeitures used to recover the proceeds and instrumentalities of crimes. They share the same objective, namely the forfeiture to the state of the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime. Both share common two-fold rationales”, he said.
Iheanacho urged the apex court to the judgments of the Federal High Court and Appeal Court which found that the appellant failed to show that the said funds are not proceeds of crime.
What the apex court said
In its majority decision on Friday, the apex court agreed with the appellant that the EFCC failed to establish that the money in dispute was a proceed of fraud.
Subsequently, the apex court, upheld the appellant’s case while setting aside the final forfeiture orders of the courts below.
What you should know
Nairametrics previously reported that three years ago, officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance informed officials from the state governments of the federal government’s plan to commence the deduction of $418 million from the accounts of states and local governments.
This led to a deadlock at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting following the states’ opposition to the commencement of the deduction.
The Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and the former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, had said the state governments opposed the Federal Government’s plans to make deductions from the federation account for payment of private consultants for the Paris Club Refund as the move was projected to affect the recurrent expenditure of at least 33 states who may not be able to pay the salaries of their workers.
The Federal Government later bowed to pressure as they reached an agreement with the state governments to suspend the deduction of $418 million Paris Club refunds from the states and local governments’ accounts pending the determination of court cases on the issue.