The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment in an appeal on the final forfeiture of the sum of N1.2bn, brought before it by Melrose General Services Limited, until June 7, 2024.
The appellant is challenging the judgment of the Court of Appeal in May 2019, ordering the forfeiture of the sum, being proceeds of unlawful activity in the Paris Club fund, involving Melrose General Services Limited.
This was made known in a statement by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, on Thursday.
Counsel for the appellant, Kehinde Ogunwumiji, while informing the apex court of a motion seeking the setting aside of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, noted that the money involved in the forfeiture suit was not a proceed of any unlawful activity, but payment for a contractual and consultancy agreement.
Counsel for the EFCC however, informed the court of his counter-affidavit dated March 11, 2024, praying the court to adopt his brief of argument and dismiss the appeal of the appellant.
The statement reads in part “My Lords, we seek the leave of your noble Lordships to undertake a brief overview of the concept of forfeiture granted by the two courts below in a bid to drive home the 1st respondent`s case. There are generally two types of forfeitures used to recover the proceeds and instrumentalities of crimes. They share the same objective, namely the forfeiture of the state of the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime. Both share common two-fold rationales.”
Arguing further, he stressed that, “Recall that 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 are not proceeds of crime.
