Lawyer refutes fraud allegation by Spanish Embassy

A renowned legal practitioner, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu has declared as untrue the allegation contained in a letter by the Spanish Embassy and addressed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alleging that he withheld part of a $15 million out-of-court settlement money he received on behalf of his client.

Spanish Embassy had through a letter signed by Juan Jose Otamendi Garcia Jalon of its department of Economic and Commercial Development, urged the EFCC, to revisit fraud charges against the lawyer, saying he represented a Spanish firm, Domaco Holdings in a $15 million out-of-court settlement deal and that he allegedly remitted only part of the money to the firm.

The Guardian had published the letter in May 7. But the lawyer, writing through his counsel, Kunle Uthman said the allegation by the Embassy is ‘false, fabricated and tantamount to a deliberate effort to mislead the public in the matter, which has spanned a period of almost 30 years’.

He said: “After protracted negotiations between the parties and the inter-ministerial agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria involved in this matter, a sum of US$15million was agreed as out-of-court settlement to the satisfaction of all parties.

“This money has since been remitted in full to the nominated accounts of Jose Lopez Tapia and Domaco Holdings overseas. These payments were made through the Central Bank of Nigeria via the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance and necessarily there were exchange rate fluctuations during the period of the transfer, which was not a lump sum remittance.

“It is a fact that Joseph Lopez Tapia, without any coercion or influence by anybody on oath in the office of his Notary Public in Bilbao, Spain acknowledged the receipts of these monies in the manner the transfers was made”.

He explained that during the period and process of the transfer of the money, Tapia gave instructions to his solicitors to remit money to some of his business associates in Nigeria. According to him, payments were made to his son, Jaime Lopez Tapia-Guzman. “He also collected money and instructed deductions of professional fees and incidental expenses for professional services and retainership that spanned a period of almost 10 years”, he stated.

Uthman said another lawyer had initially attempted to resolve the issue for Tapia without success, resulting in the Spanish engaging the services of his client. He said that when the lawyer who initially represented Tapia and his firm became aware that the total money had been remitted to Tapia, he threatened to sue Dalhatu, if he failed to pay what he referred to as professional fees in respect of the recovery.

According to him, the lawyer was told the payment of professional fees was between him and Tapia whom he had business with.

Uthman further explained that having failed to extort money from his client, the lawyer went to the High Court in Lagos and was told to withdrew the suit by Tapia if he must be paid a dime. He stated that during the course of the action, Tapia was arrested and detained. He (Tapia) then engaged the services of another Lagos lawyer who eventually instigated the EFCC to harangue Dalhatu without evidence of complicity in the matter.