Diezani did not use her salary as minister to buy $40m jewellery ― EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday asked the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to order the permanent forfeiture of the 2,149 pieces of jewellery and a customised gold iPhone, valued at $40m, recovered from the Abuja home of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The anti-graft agency in an affidavit insisted that the items were beyond Diezani’s “known and provable lawful income.”

According to an EFCC investigator, Rufai Zaki, Diezani was appointed the Minister of Petroleum Resources on April 12, 2010.

Zaki, however, alleged that findings by the EFCC showed that she started acquiring the jewellery in 2012 from one Bukola Oyewumi of Trinket Box Bespoke Jewellery at Ikeja City Mall, Alausa.

The investigator said the EFCC was in possession of the details of the UBA account through which Diezani received her salary as a minister.

“The respondent did not utilise her salary or any part of her legitimate income to acquire the assets sought to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” Zaki said.

Zaki’s said the EFCC invited Oyewumi and she made a statement, saying she started selling jewellery to Diezani in 2012.

According to Zaki, Oyewumi also made available to the EFCC the invoices issued in respect of the jewellery in which ‘Aunty D’ was written as the buyer.

He said the EFCC also discovered that apart from Oyewumi, Diezani also bought jewellery from one Minal Ratanani of Bella Vista Apartment, Banana Island, Ikoyi,

According to him, she admitted during questioning by the EFCC that Diezani bought jewellery worth $865,300.00 from her over a period and she paid cash.

Counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, said it was in the best interest of justice for the court to order the permanent forfeiture of the jewellery and the gold iPhone to the Federal Government.

He said the court was empowered to make such forfeiture order under Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offence Act 2006, because “the respondent’s known and provable lawful income is far less than the properties sought to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

But Diezani, through her counsel, Nnamdi Awa-Kalu, insisted that the seizure of the items amounted to a violation of Diezani’s constitutional right to own properties.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo adjourned till September 11, 2019, for the ruling.