The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed October 23 for hearing in a suit filed by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, challenging the order obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for final forfeiture of her seized assets.
Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed the date yesterday after Alison-Madueke’s lawyer and EFCC’s counsel regularised their processes in the suit.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the anti-corruption agency had planned to conduct public sale of all the assets seized for being proceeds of crime, as ordered by courts, to be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
Immediate past EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa recently said $153 million and over 80 properties had been recovered from Alison-Madueke.
The former minister was alleged to have escaped to the United Kingdom (UK) and remained there after her exit from office, which she occupied between 2010 and 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
But the ex-minister, in her suit, sought an order extending the time within which to seek leave to apply to the court for an order to set aside the EFCC’s public notice issued to conduct public sale on her property.
The former minister, who argued that the various orders were made without jurisdiction, said these “ought to be set aside as a matter of right
