Paris Club refund: S’court to deliver verdict in N1.2bn forfeiture suit June 7

The supreme court has fixed June 7, 2024 for judgment in an appeal seeking to prevent the final forfeiture of N1,222,384,857.84 to the federal government.

Melrose General Services Limited, the appellant, is challenging the judgment of the court of appeal ordering the forfeiture of the money to the federal government of Nigeria.

The appellate court had ruled on the premise that the money was proceeds of an unlawful activity in the Paris Club refund process.

At the court session on Thursday, Kehinde Ogunwumiju, counsel to the appellant, argued that the money involved in the forfeiture suit is not a proceed of any unlawful activity, but payment for a contractual and consultancy agreement his client entered with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF).

He prayed the court to reverse the decision of the appellate court.

However, Ekele Iheanacho, counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), prayed the court to adopt his brief of argument and dismiss the appeal of the appellant. 

“There are generally two types of forfeitures used to recover the proceeds and instrumentalities of crimes. They share the same objective — namely the forfeiture to the state of the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime. Both share common two-fold rationales,”  he said.

“Recall that the appellant filed his notice of appeal against the well-considered judgment of the federal high court which was equally dismissed by the court of appeal on May 31, 2019, having found that the appellant failed to show that the said funds were not proceeds of crime.

“Further to the background of the matter, the EFCC carried out investigations which revealed among others the sum of N3.5bn was fraudulently paid to the appellant to carry out a consultancy job for the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF).

“Under the guise that the appellant carried out a consultancy job for the NGF entitling it to the money when it did not do any such work.

“The appellant made several withdrawals within a short time leaving N1,222,384,857.84 before the EFCC intervened.

“Further investigation led to the recovery of an additional sum of N220m which the appellant had paid to WASP Networks Ltd and Thebe Wellness Services.”

After listening to all the submissions, a five-member panel of the apex court reserved judgment in the matter till June 7, 2024.