Former Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke has been hammered again by the court. Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos State on Friday has ordered the forfeiture of 2,149 pieces of jewellery and a customised gold iPhone, valued at $40m,
The judge ordered that the items should be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government.
The forfeiture order followed an ex parte application moved on Friday morning by a lawyer for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Rotimi Oyedepo.
The application, titled action in rem, had Diezani as the only defendant and it was filed pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other related Offences Act No. 14, 2006.
The EFCC said in the application that it found and recovered the jewellery and the customised gold iPhone “on the premises of the respondent,” adding that it reasonably suspected that the former minister acquired them with “proceeds of unlawful activities.”
