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Abacha ran criminal syndicate, says govt
From Emmanuel Onwubiko, Abuja
IN the renewed bid to recover funds allegedly looted by the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, the Federal Government has headed for the Court of Appeal, Kaduna.
Before the appellate court, the government claims that the late Abacha operated a criminal organisation between November 13, 1993 and June 8, 1998 to stash the nation's funds in foreign accounts.
The government will prosecute the appeal through a team of eight senior lawyers comprising of Joe Kyari Gadzama (SAN), Bayo Ojo (SAN), Emeka Ngige (SAN), Paul Erokoro, D.C. Ewelum, Rotimi Jacobs and Austin Peters.
The appeal is at the instance of the September 24, 2004 judgment of the Federal High Court, Kaduna, where Justice Mohammed Liman voided government's move to retrieve the funds from Abacha's cronies.
Justice Liman's judgment was due to the government's bid to freeze the foreign accounts of the Abachas.
The judge had ruled thus: "The fundamental question is if the Banking` (Freezing of Accounts) Act Cap 29 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 was repealed by Decree 63 of 1999 and the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters within the Commonwealth (Enacting and Enforcement) Act do not cover other countries in which the plaintiff's (Ali Abacha) accounts were frozen except the United Kingdom, what is the legal basis for such an action? It is my view that the plaintiff (Ali Abacha) has successfully challenged the defence of limitation, in that prima facie, he has established that the action of the defendant (Federal Government) lacked semblance of legal justification and I so hold".
In the appeal filed at the Appeal Court and endorsed on behalf of the government by Erokoro, an Abuja-based lawyer, the government alleged that the regime of the late Abacha supervised the operation of an international crime syndicate.
According to the government: "The plaintiff, whose name, address and description were given in the suit as Alhaji Ali Abacha, of No. 10, Guava Road, Kaduna, a businessman, neither averred nor deposed to the fact that he was the same person described in Exhibit D as Mr. Ali Abacha, brother of Gen. Sani Abacha, of 1/9, Gidado Road, Nassarawa, Kano, a member of the criminal organisation put in place by Gen. Sani Abacha in order to carry out corruption and the embezzlement of public funds."
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Charles Akinlolu Olujinmi (SAN), had recently faulted the Justice Liman's verdict.
The government said that the judge did not inform it of the date of judgment and therefore declared it a "nullity as it offended against the defendant's (government) constitutional right to fair hearing".
Sources said that Justice Liman might be dragged to the National Judicial Council (NJC) by government for alleged indiscretion.
Specifically, on ground eight of the appeal, the government averred that: "The court
notified the plaintiff and or his counsel of the date of delivery of judgment, wherefore the plaintiff's counsel was present in court for the judgment. The same court did not notify the defendant and/or his counsel of the date of delivery of judgment, wherefore none of them was in court for the judgment, thus showing bias in favour of the plaintiff."
On ground 11, the government noted that "it is wrong in law to treat the date fixed for the hearing of a motion as the date for the hearing of the substantive case.
"The judgment of the court delivered on the 24th of September, 2004 was a
nullity, having been delivered without notice to the defendant or his counsel", it said.
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