The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has opposed an application by former Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke seeking to present evidence of her acquittal by the Southwark Crown Court in London before a Federal High Court in Abuja.
In a further counter-affidavit filed on October 5, the anti-graft agency urged Justice Inyang Ekwo to dismiss the request, arguing that the UK court’s decision is not material or relevant to the issues before the Nigerian court.
Justice Ekwo had on July 1 granted Diezani’s earlier application to introduce the London judgment after her lawyer, Godwin Iyinbor, moved the motion.
At the time, EFCC counsel Mofesomo Oyetibo (SAN) did not oppose it. The Southwark Crown Court discharged and acquitted Alison-Madueke on June 17 of criminal bribery allegations brought against her in the United Kingdom.
Diezani is using the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/21/2023, to challenge the forfeiture and proposed sale of assets linked to her by the EFCC.
In its latest filing, the commission, through litigation officer Oyakhilome Ekienabor of Oyetibo’s law firm, described some of the depositions in her application as misleading, immaterial and irrelevant.
“The proceedings before the Southwark Crown Court, London, United Kingdom, and the purported acquittal of the applicant therein, are in respect of a proceeding that is not being prosecuted before any Nigerian court and have nothing to do with the substantive suit before this honourable court,” the EFCC stated.
It further argued that the supplementary affidavit introduces irrelevant facts that divert attention from the core issues in the case.
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