The Federal High Court in Abuja has instructed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to deposit the sum of $9.7 million and £74,000, which were seized from the former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu Magu.
This comes after EFCC, through its lawyer, Mr Faruk Abdullah, appealed the judgment of a High Court, which dismissed allegations of money laundry leveled against the former NNPC boss.
The anti-graft agency told the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday that since the commission had appealed the earlier judgement of the court, the seized money is still considered a subject of an ongoing litigation.
The EFCC‘s lawyer, therefore, prayed the court to dismiss an application the erstwhile NNPC GMD filed to compel it to return the money to him.
Recall that Magu had sued the EFCC, CBN, and the Guaranty Trust Bank, seeking to recover the $9,773,200.00 and £74,000.00 seized from him after he was acquitted of fraud charges.
Operatives of the EFCC had raided the property of the former NNPC chief in Kaduna and recovered $9.8m and £74,000 stashed in a fire-proof safe on February 3, 2017.
In an originating summons, marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/231/2023, Yakubu asked the court to determine whether the EFCC ought to still have in its custody his seized monies after the judgment.
However, during Monday’s hearing, Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment held that he found that the EFCC and CBN had not been forthright concerning the whereabouts of the sums on which the suit was centred.
The judge said, “Therefore, the proper order to make in this case is that which can assure all parties that the sums are in the custody that can make them retrievable by any of the parties entitled thereto eventually, pending the determination of the appeal lodged by the Federal Government against the decision of a sister court in suit number: FHC/ABJ/CR/43/2017.”