The
Federal Government has won the ownership and
custody of the $15 million bribe allegedly given by
former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe
Ibori, to former Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu.
In his
judgment at the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, Justice Gabriel Kolawole declared that the money should be forfeited to the
Federal Government since the Delta State
Government
could not prove that Ibori stole the money from
its coffers.
“The
claimant has not sufficiently proved that the money belongs to them; they failed to establish that they are
entitled to the money. In the light of Ibori’s denial that he gave $15 million to anyone, the money becomes an unclaimed property. Kolawole ruled. “It
has become an illegal proceed and is hereby forfeited to the federal government. The respondent should ensure that the money is paid into
the account of the federal government for official use.”
Delta,
through its Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Charles Ajuyah (SAN), had approached the court asking that
the $15 million (over N2billion) allegedly received as bribe
by Ribadu from Ibori be paid to it.
The
court had earlier ordered that the money be temporarily forfeited to the
Federal Government, and to be finally forfeited
if no one came forward to claim ownership of it within 14 days of
the publication of an advertorial pertaining
to the interim order. However, Ajuyah
filed an affidavit claiming that the money, which has been in CBN
custody since April 2007, belongs to Delta and its people. He
prayed the court to hold that any application
or order granting the money to any other entity than
Delta State would be improper, among others.
But
according to Kolawole “no
one is ready to lay claim t the money for
obvious reasons. “The
claimant needs to do more to prove that the money belongs to them. The claim must be proved beyond Ibori’s denial that he ever
gave any money as bribe to anyone.
“The
Delta State Government has to show that an audit of the state account was carried (out) after Ibori’s tenure from 1999 to 2007 and found that the money was
missing from the state’s account.
It did not do any investigation by way of
audit and come to a conclusion that the money was missing.”
He
further ruled: “It
will amount to fallacy to assume that Chief James Ibori cannot have that kind
of money. The claimant should have produced the asset declaration form of Ibori from 1999
to 2007 when he functioned as governor of
the state. It is not enough to claim that no one is more connected to the money than Delta State.
“The
court will not hesitate to hand over the money to Delta State if it is proved that it belongs to them. The pendency
of the case does not prevent the state from asking for an order that the money be lodged in an interest-yielding
account to enable them conduct an audit of the state
account.” said the Judge.
