Diezani loses appeal in which she seeks to get EFCC to return jewellery seized from her home

FORMER petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has lost a court case in which she challenged the confiscation of her jewellery said to be worth about $40m that was seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In July 2019, Diezani had the jewellery, including a customised gold iPhone, seized from her after a Lagos federal high court ordered their forfeiture to the federal government. She appealed the decision, trying to get them returned to her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but lost the case at an appeal in October that year.

Battling on, Ms Alison-Madueke filed a fresh case at the Court of Appeal in Lagos seeking to get the judgement overturned but she list again yesterday. In its ruling, the court dismissed her appeal, holding that there was no substance in the former minister's bid to overturn the lower court’s order.

It affirmed the 2019 judgment of Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court which forfeited the jewellery following an application by the EFCC. On July 5, 2019, the EFCC secured an order of the high court temporarily forfeiting the expensive items to the federal government.

According to the schedule attached to the application, the jewellery, categorised into 33 sets, include 419 expensive bangles, 315 expensive rings, 304 expensive earrings, 267 expensive necklaces, 189 expensive wristwatches, 174 expensive necklaces and earrings, 78 expensive bracelets, 77 expensive brooches and 74 expensive pendants. They were seized from the former minister’s house at 10 Fredrick Chiluba Close, Asokoro, Abuja.