Andrew Yakubu, former Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, has sued the EFCC, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Guarantee Trust Bank over alleged refusal to release his $9.8 million after a court judgment.
Mr Yakubu, through his counsel, Ahmed Raji, filed the suit before Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court, Abuja. The originating summons, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/231/2023, was dated and filed on March 8, with EFCC, CBN and GTB listed as the first to third defendants, respectively.
On March 31, 2022, Justice Ahmed Mohammed discharged and acquitted ex-NNPC GMD of a money laundering charge.
Mr Mohammed held that the EFCC failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, but the anti-corruption agency had appealed against the judgment.
Mr Yakubu, in the suit, asked whether “the court did not become dominus litis of the respective sums of $9,773,200 and £74,000 belonging to” him when the same was put in issue, and in evidence before the court in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/43/2017 between the Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Engr Andrew Yakubu, and in respect of which judgment was delivered on March 31, 2022.
He said if the question was answered in the affirmative, he asked whether the EFCC should still have his seized monies in its custody after a sister court gave a judgment in his favour on March 31, 2022.
Mr Yakubu, therefore, asked whether the monies ought not to be released to him immediately or paid into an account under the control of the registry of the court, pending the outcome of the appeal lodged by the EFCC against the said judgment.
He sought an order directing the defendants to release the monies to him, given the court judgment immediately.
Alternatively, he sought an order directing them to immediately transfer the said monies into an account under the control of the FHC chief registrar or into an account to be operated by the chief registrar, the EFCC and him, pending the determination of the appeal.
But the EFCC, in a notice of preliminary objection, prayed the court to dismiss Yakubu’s application.
In the motion dated March 20 and filed on April 12 by Faruk Abdullah, the anti-graft agency argued that the suit constituted an abuse of the court process. It said the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The EFCC said it also relied on the earlier processes filed before the court, where it raised jurisdictional issues and urged the court to strike out the entire suit.
In the affidavit supporting the motion deposed to by Sambo Mayana, a detective with the commission, EFCC averred that most of Mr Yakubu’s depositions did not reflect the correct position of the case.
It said an appeal had already been filed in appeal number CA/ABJ/CR/653/2022.
In addition, it stated that there were other appeals arising from the case pending at the Supreme Court with appeal number SC/CR/241/2020, between the federal government and Mr Yakubu, and appeal number $C/CR/223/2020 between Mr Yakubu and federal government.
The EFCC argued that while parties were awaiting a date for the hearing of case SC/CR/223/2020 at the Supreme Court, Mr Yakubu brought an application before the apex court to direct the commission to deposit the monies in a bank account to be managed by the registry of the Supreme Court.
It said Mr Yakubu, by this present suit, replicated his application at the Supreme Court and seeking the same to be determined by this count. The EFCC urged the court to discountenance Mr Yakubu’s application and uphold its preliminary objection in the interest of justice.
When the matter was mentioned on Thursday, A.A. Usman, who appeared for Mr Yakubu, said they received counter-affidavits from the defendants, and he would need time to respond.
GTB’s lawyer, Idaye Imbu, informed that a motion to regularise their processes had been filed, and the court granted her prayer after parties in the suit did not oppose it.
The judge adjourned the matter until May 18 for a hearing.
The anti-graft agency had, in 2017, raided the residence of the ex-NNPC boss in Kaduna and found $9,772,800 and £74,000 in a safe.
Mr Yakubu was, however, arraigned on March 16, 2017, on six counts, but the trial court struck out counts one and two.
The Court of Appeal also struck out counts five and six and ordered Yakubu to defend himself on counts three and four.
Counts three and four, which bordered on failure to make full disclosure of assets, receiving cash without going through a financial institution and intent to avoid a lawful transaction in alleged violation of section 1(1) of the Money Laundering Act, 2011 and punishable under section 16(2)(b) of the Act.
He had pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
(NAN)
