The Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered the temporary seizure of a parcel of land in the Lekki area of Lagos linked to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The land, designated as Plot 13, Block II Oniru Chieftaincy Private Family Estate, Lekki, Lagos, is said to be worth N325.4m.
The order temporarily forfeiting the property to the Federal Government was granted by Justice Babs Kuewumi in favour of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Anslem Ozioko, who took an ex parte application before the judge on Wednesday, said the land was suspected to be acquired with proceeds of crime.
Joined as defendants in the ex parte application were Diezani, one Mr. Donald Amamgbo and a firm, Mez Group LLC.
Justice Kuewumi, after granting the temporary forfeiture order, directed the anti-graft agency to publish same in a national daily to put interested parties on notice.
The judge gave anyone interested in the property 14 days to appear before him to show cause why the land should not be permanently forfeited.
The EFCC is seeking an order of the court to appoint “a competent person(s) or firm to manage the assets/property named and described in the schedule to this application.”
An investigator with the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, said the anti-graft agency stumbled upon the documents of the land sometime in 2016 while executing a search warrant on the office of Amamgbo, an ally of the ex-petroleum minister.
Punch
