The Supreme Court of Nigeria has not yet decided about the N1.2bn forfeiture case brought by Melrose General Services Limited. The judgment is expected on June 7, 2024.
The person appealing is contesting the decision made by the Court of Appeal in May 2019 to forfeit the sum of money, which is linked to illegal activities in the Paris Club fund and involves Melrose General Services Limited.
The EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, revealed this information on Thursday.
The lawyer for the appellant, Kehinde Ogunwumiji, told the apex court that the money in question was not gained through illegal activities, but was payment for a contract and consultancy agreement.
The EFCC's lawyer informed the court about their response to the appellant's appeal, dated March 11, 2024, asking the court to consider their argument and reject the appeal.
According to the statement, the court is being asked to review the forfeiture concept in order to support the 1st respondent`s case.
The appellant filed an appeal against the judgment of the Federal High Court, which was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on May 31, 2019, as they failed to prove that the funds were not obtained through criminal activities.
The EFCC found that N3.5bn was wrongly paid to the appellant for a consultancy job for the Nigerian Governors Forum. However, investigations revealed that the appellant did not perform any such work, and made significant withdrawals afterward.
Further investigations led to the recovery of an additional N220m, which the appellant had paid to other companies.
After hearing all the arguments, the five-man panel of the Supreme Court postponed the decision to June 7, 2024.
