Court dismisses application to vacate forfeiture order in N96m contract fraud case

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed an application to vacate a final forfeiture order granted to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in a N96 million contract fraud case.

The ruling was predicated on an application dated and filed on 15th February 2024 asking the court to set aside the interim and final forfeiture orders granted to the ICPC to freeze certain bank accounts believed to have been used to receive the sum of N96 million for contracts that were never executed.

In a case involving former Surveyor-General of the Federation (SGF), Ebisintei Bietoru Awudu, Kumeni Services Limited and Geolev Nigeria Limited, ICPC had in December, 2021 and April 2022 secured interim and final forfeiture orders respectively from the Federal High Court over funds believed to be proceeds of crime.

However, the second respondent/applicant (Kumeni Services Limited) challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter just as it argued that ICPC lacked the locus standi to apply for order of forfeiture.

Delivering her judgement on the application on Thursday, Justice Evelyn Maha held that the argument of the second respondent/applicant (Kumeni Services Limited) was confusing and unsettling because the originating process filed failed to refer to any extant law or imaginary law that precludes the federal government to apply for a forfeiture order.

“The second respondent applicant did not attach any document before me that the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation did not give consent to the ICPC to file this action for forfeiture.

“Also, it’s a common knowledge in law that the AGF is in charge of protecting all the interests of the federal public in Nigeria and any action before any court of law or anything that has to do with any federal government of Nigeria.

“In that contention, the arguments of the second respondent applicant failed having not shown in the court, the law that should not allow ICPC to apply under the name of the federal government,” the judge stated.

She further stressed that ICPC did comply with the publication order made by the court for anyone affected to show course, why the interim forfeiture order should not be made final.

“And it is clear that the publication order was made by the court. Again, the second applicant is also misleading the court, as my records show that the ICPC complied with the order of publication and the interim. So, in consequence of the above, it’s my finding that the application is lacking in merit and is hereby dismissed by the court.”

Justice Maha also frowned at the application that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter saying that was a gross-abuse of court process.

“If I have heard that I don’t have jurisdiction, I would have awarded a million-dollar cost. You have to be careful because this is a gross abuse of court process.” the judge warned.

ICPC had in 2019 received a petition from concerned citizens alleging that that one Surveyor Ebisintei Bietoru Awudu, in connivance and collusion with the second respondent/applicant (Kumeni Services Limited) perpetrated fraud at the office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation.

The petition was investigated and the Commission discovered that all the contracts awarded to the 2nd Respondent/Applicant by the 1st Respondent was a conduit pipe for siphoning money belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria in form of unexecuted and inflated contracts.