A former First Bank Executive Director, Dauda Lawal, has appealed the February 16, 2017 judgment of the Federal High Court in Lagos, which ordered the forfeiture of the sum of N9.08bn recovered from him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Justice Muslim Hassan had ordered the permanent forfeiture of the N9.08bn to the Federal Government after the EFCC told him the money was part of $153,310,000, which a former minister of petroleum resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, allegedly diverted from the coffers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The EFCC told the judge it traced the $153.3m to three commercial banks in the country where it was kept in the sums of N23,446, 300,000; N9,080,000,000; and $5m.
It said it recovered all the money, including N9.08bn, from Lawal.
While ordering the permanent forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government, Justice Hassan dismissed the argument by Lawal’s lawyer, Charles Adeogun-Philips, that the EFCC misrepresented facts.
The judge dismissed Adeogun-Phillips’ submission that Lawal was coerced to sign an undertaking to make a refund N9.08bn to the Federal Government as a condition for his release from the EFCC custody.
Displeased with the forfeiture, Lawal had proceeded to the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, seeking to recover the money.
He told the appellate court that contrary to the claim by the EFCC that the N9.08bn was proceeds of crime, the money was actually raised by his family and friends as a condition for his release from the EFCC detention.
Lawal said he had in a counter-affidavit he filed on January 23, 2017, “provided graphic details on how I (through family and friends) raised the total of N9,080,000,000 while I was in the detention custody of the EFCC. The total sum of N9,080,000,000 was raised and paid to the EFCC between May 13, 2016 and 6 June, 2016.”
In his appeal, the ex-bank chief prayed that the forfeiture judgment be reversed for lack of jurisdiction and that the N9.08bn be returned to him.
