Court freezes Ozekhome’s account over alleged money laundering
Mike Ozekhome
Its an invidious lie from the pit of hell, says lawyer
A Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos, yesterday ordered that the sum of N75 million in the bank account of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome be frozen.
Justice Abdulaziz Anka made the order, while delivering a ruling on an ex-parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft agency had alleged that the money deposited in Ozekhome’s Guaranty Trust Bank account on December 15, 2016 was suspected to be proceeds from crime.
Moving the application, counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Idris Mohammed, informed the court that the application was brought to court pursuant to Section 29 of the EFCC Act.
Attached to the ex-parte application, were three exhibits marked 01, 02 and 03, as well as an affidavit of urgency sworn to by an investigator with the EFCC, Tosin Owobo.
Consequently, Justice Anka granted the order in a short ruling and said any party who was not satisfied with his order, had a right of appeal. Meanwhile, Ozekhome yesterday reacted to the freeze, describing the allegation as “an invidious lie from the pit of hell.”
According to him: “It is with rude shock and personal sense of consternation that my attention had been drawn to online publications with numerous calls from Nigerians, that my account containing N75 million domiciled with GTBank has been temporarily frozen. It was allegedly based on an ex-parte order obtained by the EFCC from Justice Abdulazeez Anka of the Federal High Court, Lagos.
“For the records, the N75 million was paid into my account by my client, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, as part payment of professional fees for the numerous cases that my chambers is currently handling for him (in his personal capacity) and his aides across Nigeria. The money is neither “suspected proceeds of crime” nor of money laundering.
Ozekhome explained that the lawyer who obtained the ex-parte order, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, represented the EFCC when he defeated it in the judgment to defreeze Fayose’s accounts with Zenith Bank, which was delivered by Justice Taiwo O. Taiwo, at the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti.
The lawyer, who said he had never been involved in money laundering, said he had since utilised the money to pay the school fees of his children and Mike Ozekhome Foundation activities.
He promised to take “immediate legal steps to defreeze the account, in the event that the EFCC does not immediately voluntarily vacate the said order.”
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3 Comments
If, as a lawyer, you receive robbed money from armed or pen robbers to defend them, the money you so receive could eventually be ruled forfeited as part of the blood money, hence the temporary freeze. You can even end up being charged as an accessory to the crime.
So, Mr Ozekhome, please allow legal the process on the larger allegedly looted money — of which the portion now traced to your account forms a part — run its course.
Good luck.
P34c3
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Olekhome, you be thief. No wonder you have been singing a different tune in the recent past. N75,000,000 for legal fees. May you and Fayose rot in jail for this blatant stealing. FYI, that money is gone forever. Ask Fayose to give you another money,
Nigerians are too quick to jump to conclusion on issues! The law says that “An accused person is assumed to be innocent until it has been proven otherwise in a court of competent jurisdiction”. Let’s have the habit of allowing due process to take its course before making conclusions. It has been said that a funeral service is being conducted for Buhari’s anti corruption fight because he is seen to be using deodorant as a tool for fighting corruption in the executive arm of government while he uses strong insecticide on those opposing him. Ozekhome has a right to defend himself and he should be allowed to do so.
We will review and take appropriate action.