The immediate past Senate President, Dr. Bukonla Saraki on Thursday cried foul before the Federal High Court, Lagos, over the attempt by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to have his two Ikoyi, Lagos properties forfeited permanently to the Federal Government.
The properties are located at 17 and 17A McDonald Road, Ikoyi, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.
The EFCC had applied to court for the forfeiture of the properties to the FG on the grounds that properties were obtained with loans from GTBank and repaid back with Kwara State fund.
Saraki informed the court through his lawyers led by Kehinde Ogunwunmiju SAN that he (Saraki) was already a succussful businessman with properties worldwide before he became a governor.
He said that the EFCC must satisfy the court that such property was proceed of unlawful act.
Justice Mohammed Liman had granted the exparte motion for the interim forfeiture of the two properties before he was yesterday informed that both the interim and the attempted permanent forfeiture of his two properties was an abuse of Court process.
Saraki’s lawyer argued that the EFCC was also estopped from re litigating on the same properties because EFCC had litigated on same properties before the Code of Conduct Tribunal ( CCT ) up to the Supreme Court and lost.
He said that Justice Taiwo Taiwo had made an order restraining EFCC from filing such a case. Adding that the order was still subsisting.
Facts brought before the court are that Saraki while been Governor was deducting N100 million from security votes to defray the loan but the Judgment of the CCT dismissing the case against Saraki was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The court has adjourned till April 24, 2020 for judgment.
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