Court to AGF, EFCC: account for assets seized from Ibru in 72hrs

Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos has ordered the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to make public the details of properties recovered from former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank Plc, Cecilia Ibru.

The judge specifically ordered the EFCC and AGF to provide an investor with the defunct Oceanic (now part of Ecobank), Boniface Okezie, and details of the assets within 72 hours.

Justice Idris gave the orders yesterday in his judgment in a suit brought under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011 by Okezie, who is also the President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN).

The judge had on October 2 last year, in a separate suit by Okezie, issued similar orders against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CNB) in relation to the same assets forfeited to the Federal Government by Ibru.

Justice Idris had ordered the CBN to make public within 72 hours “the total cash and value of properties recovered from Cecilia Ibru; the whereabouts of the money and properties recovered and what part of this cash and properties has been returned to Oceanic Bank and/or its shareholders.”

Ibru, on October 8, 2010, under a plea-bargain arrangement, pleaded guilty to charges bordering on economic crimes. She was accordingly convicted by the then Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Dan Abutu, and sentenced to six months imprisonment.

Yesterday, Justice Idris held that the FOI act required all public institutions to proactively disclose information about their structure and process.

The judge further held that where such information was required, it was incumbent on the institution to provide it within seven days, but that where a valid reason exists for the public institution to withhold such information, it should within the same period state such reason in writing to the person applying for it.

Justice Idris also held that the provisions of sections 2 and 3 of the FOI Act conferred the plaintiff conferred with the requisite locus standi (right) to institute the suit.

He added that the plaintiff needed not demonstrate any specific interest in the information before it is availed him.

“In the instant suit, it appears that the AGF has not declined to provide the required information, but had sought for adequate time within which to collate the required information and serve same on the applicant, whereas the EFCC had bluntly refused to comply.

“I am of the view that on receipt of the plaintiff’s request, the EFCC had a duty to respond, but in this case, they simply kept mute. Let me say that none of the defendants has such powers under the law.

“The EFCC has failed to file any counter affidavit stating the reasons for its failure to avail the plaintiff with the required information. In my view, the defendant did not show that by its non-disclosure, it was protecting the certainty, deliberative or policy making process within the agency.

“The EFCC has not shown that it is protecting the disclosure of an information that will constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of the privacy of individuals in the agency, or that would contaminate its court proceedings.

“I am of the view in this case, that none of the information required by the plaintiff threatens the national security. The FOI act is meant to promote democracy, transparency, justice and development.

“It is designed to change how government works, because we all, like Nigerians, have resolved that it should no longer be business as usual. Therefore, every public institution “Must” prepare itself for a full implementation of the FOI act, and the judiciary has no choice but to comply with the enforcement of the act.

“Obedience to the rule of law, especially by those who take oath of office in public institutions, is a desideratum to good governance.

Judgment is hereby given in favour of the plaintiff. And the defendants are directed to provide the said information within 72 hours of this judgment,” the judge held

Okezie had, in the suit filed in December last year, sought, among others, an order compelling the defendants to disclose the total cash and value of properties recovered from Cecilia Ibru.

He also sought to ascertain the whereabouts of the recovered assets, and what portion of the assets had been returned to Oceanic Bank and its shareholders.

Okezie also sought to know the source and amounts paid to the EFCC for the prosecution of former bank chiefs in Nigeria, the list of criminal prosecution carried out by the EFCC through private lawyers, and the reason for not utilising lawyers in the Commission.

He prayed for an order compelling the AGF to disclose the list of criminal prosecution carried out by the Ministry of Justice through private lawyers. Okezie also sought to know why the Ministry of Justice had resorted to the use of private lawyers for prosecution instead of lawyers in the Ministry of Justice and the cost of such prosecution by the private lawyers.

Culled from: the nation