Recovery of Public Properties: Appeal Court voids Presidential panel’s power to prosecute, seize properties

…sets aside forfeiture order of Tumsah brothers properties
The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday voided the power of Chief Okoi Obono-Obla led Presidential Panel on Assets Recovery to prosecute, saying that the panel lacked the power to initiate criminal proceedings against any accused person.

The appellate court further held that the panel lacked the constitutional power to seize properties of alleged offenders.

The judgement of the Appeal Court was sequel to an appeal filed by a staff of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing , Tijani Tumsah through his lawyer, Kehinde Ogunwumiju SAN.

The panel had approached the High Court and obtained an order forfeiting his properties alongside that of his brother , Ibrahim Tumsah, who is the Director of Finance and Accounts in Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.

Not satisfied, Tijani had approached the appellate court, challenging the prosecutorial power of the panel.

Besides the Tumsah brothers, the panel had also filed a charge against the Deputy Senate President , Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Senators Hope Uzodinma and Stella Oduah.

But in unanimous judgement , a five man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Hussein Muhktar who began to read the judgement at about 6:15pm held that going by the Act that established the panel,it lacks power to prosecute any offender.

The court further held that the powers of the panel is only limited to investigation and not prosecution.

In the appeal, Ogunwumiju had asked the court to determine whether the suit culminating in the forfeiture order against his client was validly instituted by the panel before the court below.

The appellant also asked the appellate court to determine whether or not the panel could validly rely on the EFCC Act to obtain the freezing order granted by the the lower court on December 6, 2017.

Also the appellant asked the court to determine whether or not the lower court was right when it refused to set aside its interim freezing order of December 6,2016.

The court however resolved all the three issues in favour of the appellant.

It held that nothing in the Recovery of Public Property Act Cap R 4, LFN 2004 empowers the panel to initiate court proceedings pursuant to its investigative powers for the purpose of obtaining an interim order for forfeiture of property.

The Court of Appeal said , ” The panel cannot clothe itself with the cloth not given to it by the Act that established it. It cannot take over the responsibilities of the EFCC.

“The power to investigate and prosecute is solely for the EFCC and such cannot be taken over by any person or agency.

” The provision of the Act is unambiguous and not confusing. The powers of the panel is to conduct investigation on any officer who have corruptly enriched himself or breached the code of conduct.

“No power or authority is conffered on the panel to prosecute offenders.

” The ex-parte order granted by the lower court as regards the properties of the appellant is hereby set aside.

“The court below lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the matter , let alone enter judgement”.

The court held that suit instituted against the appellants at the lower court was not properly instituted.

The court further held that the Panel cannot take over the power of the EFCC in prosecuting criminal cases.

The court also held that the lower court was wrong for failing to set aside its forfeiture order.

Earlier, Justice Muhktar had explained why the judgement was delivered late in the day.

According to him, the judgement was earlier scheduled for Tuesday (today) but the panel got the hint that a nationwide strike may begin, hence the need to deliver the judgement on Monday evening.