The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told a Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday that it was not responsible for the continued detention of former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu in the United Kingdom (UK).
While arguing his counter affidavit in opposition to a motion filed by Ekweremadu’s eldest son, Lloyd, seeking a court order vacating the Nov. 4 interim order of forfeiture on 40 properties linked to his father, counsel to the EFCC, Sylvanus Tahir, SAN, told Justice Inyang Ekwo.
Tahir disagreed with Ekweremadu’s lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, who had earlier stated in his argument that the anti-graft agency wrote a letter to the London court that caused the foreign court to refuse to admit his client to bail.
Tahir, on the other hand, denied that the anti-corruption commission was behind Ekweremadu’s ordeal.
According to the lawyer, the EFCC sent a letter to the London court in response to a special request from the court.
He claimed that Ekweremadus’ claim about the EFCC’s complicity in the senator’s plight was a total misunderstanding.
He claimed that the EFCC was not the agency that arrested Ekweremadu and his wife in London, nor was it a party in the international case.
The UK authorities held them (Ike Ekweremadu and wife) on organ harvesting which is not part of our mandate, he said.
Tahir, who stated that a government agency in London had requested information, stated that it was an international best practice for different international agencies, including Interpol, FBI, and others, to share information in order to facilitate their work.
The lawyer asked the court to dismiss Ekweremadu’s application to vacate the forfeiture order.
Earlier, while arguing the motion on notice marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1242/2022 filed by Lloyd, Chief Awomolo claimed that the EFCC was to blame for his client’s prolonged detention.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Ekweremadu is currently being held in the United Kingdom on allegations of organ trafficking involving David Ukpo, who is said to be a minor.
However, in an affidavit filed in support of Lloyd’s motion, which NAN obtained, Ekweremadu’s son claimed that the EFCC was responsible for his father’s continued detention abroad.
On the 21st of June 2022, my father Senator Ike Ekweremadu was arrested with my mother Beatrice N. Ekweremadu in London, United Kingdom over allegations of conspiracy to traffick a person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.
That the arrest and detention of Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Beatrice Ekweremadu in the United Kingdom has been a matter of public knowledge and media discussion in Nigeria and abroad.
That my father, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and my mother, Beatrice Ekweremadu, were remanded in prison from the date of their arrest and they made applications for bail pending the hearing of the criminal charges against them.
I know as a fact that the arrest detention and incarceration of both my parents in London prison custody is a matter within the knowledge of the Respondent (EFCC), he averred.
According to Lloyd, the Crown Prosecution Service, the prosecuting authority in the UK, wrote to the Chairman and Chief Executive of the respondent (EFCC) on the 17th of July, 2022, regarding my father’s records with the commission as part of the proceedings in connection with my parents’ bail application.
He stated that the EFCC responded to the Metropolitan Police Central Specialist Crime, London, in a letter titled CB 9000/EFCC/DOPS/Vol.03/10, dated July 18 and signed by ACE I. Abdulkarim Chukkol.
He claimed that in the letter, the anti-graft agency stated that the “investigation is at an advanced stage, and the commission is working towards non-conviction based forfeiture of some of the properties and subsequent filing of criminal charges against the subject and his co-conspirators.”
According to Lloyd, the letter was used in the process as filed by the Crown Prosecution to oppose the bail application, and the bail was refused for a variety of reasons, including the letter from the respondent (EFCC).
As a result, Awomolo urged the court to overturn the interim order, claiming that it was filed in bad faith.
Justice Ekwo adjourned the case until January 25 to rule.
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