Nigeria In One Minute
Saraki, Ngwuta, others may forfeit alleged undeclared assets
Senate President Bukola Saraki and Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court, among other defendants currently being prosecuted before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, may have their properties, which are subject of the charges preferred against them, temporality forfeited pending the final determination of their cases.
This is according to the CCT’s new Practice Direction, 2017, released last week.
The 26-paragraph Practice Direction, with commencement date of February 16, 2017, is signed by the CCT’s Chairman, Danladi Umar, and the other member of the tribunal, William Atedze.
Paragraph 12 of the document, which deals with ‘Seizures’, gives the prosecution the discretion to apply (through ex-parte motion) for temporary forfeiture of assets which are subject of the trial pending the final determination of the case.
It allows the prosecution to make the application for property seizure at the commencement of the trial or “at a reasonable time thereafter”.
According to legal experts, since the new practice direction is a procedural framework, it will take immediate effect on ongoing cases.
Paragraph 12 reads, “The prosecution may, at the commencement of the trial or at a reasonable time thereafter, apply to the tribunal for an interim order of seizure, forfeiture and confiscation of the property, the subject of the charge pending the final determination of same by the tribunal.
Punch, April 24, 2017
RipplesNigeria ….without borders, without fears
Click here to download the Ripples Nigeria App for latest updates
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...
yanju omotodun
April 24, 2017 at 4:05 pm
That of saraki is my major concern. Someone indicted for alleged declared asset and still enjoying it.
seyi jelili
April 25, 2017 at 4:06 am
That’s because his case has not been proven yet therefore they can’t confiscate their properties.
Balarabe musa
April 25, 2017 at 4:29 am
Don’t worry yanju, Baba buhari will make sure saraki pays dearly for his corrupt acts. He won’t go Scot free and Ngwuta, he will surely go to jail too aside losing his properties to the government.
Anita Kingsley
April 24, 2017 at 5:02 pm
Our government will never stop manipulating us, which one is temporary forfeiture again? Let them forfeit the undeclared assets permanently since they didn’t claim the
Animashaun Ayodeji
April 24, 2017 at 5:29 pm
All these noise they are making are temporal, after a few months now, nothing will be done to their case. They are all manipulators…
Agbor Chris
April 24, 2017 at 5:21 pm
This is the federal republic of Nigeria where criminals will have many assets, walk in public and get treated like kings and be celebrated like legends, too hell with all of them. I will not stop cursing them until they all change.
JOHNSON PETER
April 25, 2017 at 4:12 am
Your curse will only worsen matter. And you are a Christian, as Christians, we need to pray for our leaders and our country and not to curse them