The legal battle over the controversial
‘$15m Ibori bribe money’ came to an
end on Friday when an Abuja Federal
High Court awarded the cash to the
Federal Government after rejecting
the claim to the money by Delta State
Government.
The court, presided over by Justice
Gabriel Kolawole, held that Delta
State was not able to prove its claim
that the money belonged to it.
The $15m was said to have been
received by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission from
an undisclosed agent of former Delta
State Governor James Ibori in 2007 to
compromise the agency’s probe into
his handling of the state finances as
the governor from 1999 to 2007.
The money was kept in the strong
room of the Central Bank of Nigeria as
an unclaimed property since August
2007, but a legal battle ensued over
its ownership after the court, on July
24, 2012, granted an interim order
forfeiting the cash to the Federal
Government.
With the Federal Government, through
the EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs,
SAN, asking the court for a final order
of forfeiture, so that the money could
be deposited in the national treasury,
Delta State filed an application,
claiming that the money belonged to
it.
Justice Kolawole, however,
maintained that there was no
evidence linking the state government
to the $15m.
He said, “It is not enough to depose
that Delta State Government owns the
money, Chief James Ibori had denied
knowledge of how the money came
about.
“If the claimant (Delta State) had
been able to file an admissible
evidence to prove that the $15m
belonged to it, the court would have
no option than to accept its claim.
“The Delta State Government had
filed an application, asking the court
to quash charges against Ibori, that
was inconsistent with a government
that is looking for its looted funds.
“The claimant has not been able to
link the $15m to its accounts, the
claimant has not been able to prove
on the balance of probability that the
said $15m belongs to it.”
http://www.punchng.com/news/court-awards-15m-ibori-bribe-cash-to-fg/