N75million Legal Fees: Court orders De-freezing of Ozekhome’s account; Ozekhome Hails Judge for Uncommon Courage despite Intimidation of Judiciary; Blasts Uwais Anti-Corruption Committee for misleading Buhari.

 Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, Constitutional Lawyer and Human Rights Activist on Monday defeated the EFCC for the 7th time in 12 months in a judgment delivered by Justice Abdulazeez Hanka of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

The Court upheld Chief Mike Ozekhome’s action in court challenging the freezing of his chambers Account, describing EFCC’s act of freezing the account as Diabolical.

The Court held that the action of the EFCC was illegal, unconstitutional and unorthodox, for freezing the lawyer’s Chambers account into which N75m was paid by Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state as part payment of his professional fees for 8 cases the lawyer is currently handling for the governor, his friends and aides.

The Court wondered what right EFCC has to freeze lawyer’s professional fees, more so when it was paid from a Court -ordered de-frozen account, a fact EFCC could not controvert.

Holding that EFCC cannot sit on appeal over the judgment of justice Taiwo who de-freeze the account, nor over the proceedings of the Court of Appeal to which EFCC has since appealed, Justice Hanka agreed with the submissions of Chief Mike Ozekhome, who appeared for himself and dismissed the submissions of Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo who appeared for the EFCC and held that all the authorities cited by Oyedepo were not applicable.

In vacating his earlier order obtained ex parte by the EFCC on 7th February, 2017, the judge held that a party against whom an ex parte order has been made is perfectly entitled to have the order vacated and that such dues do not amount to shielding his client from prosecution.

The court also held that there is evidence that the payment of the professional fees was not proceeds of crime or of money laundering.

The court, after reviewing all submissions and authorities cited therefore ordered the attached account De-frozen and made operational immediately.

Chief Mike Ozekhome, who was personally present in court, praised the judge for exhibiting rare courage and upholding the rule of Law and the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens, even in the face of clear intimidation of the judiciary and browbeating of judges.

Chief Ozekhome later lambasted the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, accusing it of serially misleading the President Muhammad Buhari government through low quality anti-people advice which has in turn led the government into taking draconian and despotic actions against Nigerian citizens, thereby putting fundamental rights and rule of Law to flight.

He said the Committee has become a great burden, albatross on the government’s neck, creating problems, rather than solutions, to the government; winning for it more enemies than friends.

The Judge also held that the section of the Money Laundering Act dealing with disclosure of lodgment’s of N10m and above, cited by the EFCC in support of its case, and does not apply to a private Legal Practitioner such as Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, especially when the N75m was paid from a Court -ordered De-frozen account.

The judge further held that the act of approaching the Federal High Court, a lower court, to preserve the res or subject matter of a case already at the Court of Appeal, in an appeal filed by the EFCC itself, or sit on appeal over the proceedings of the appellate court and the judgment of Justice Taiwo O Taiwo, a court of coordinate and concurrent jurisdiction, was diabolical, to say the least.

He berated Rotimi Oyedepo for approbating and reprobating, when in one breadth, he called the fees proceeds of crime, and in another breadth, he agreed that Chief Mike Ozekhome, had actually worked for the fees and was thus entitled to it.

The judge held that filing an application to set aside an earlier ex parte order of injunction as done by Chief Mike Ozekhome, cannot in anyway amount to attempting to shield himself from Investigation.

That since the account had been de-frozen by order of court and already dissipated, going by EFCC’s own admission and evidence, and since the fees was payment for professional services rendered, without any evidence that Chief Mike Ozekhome was ever aware of the ex parte order, coupled with the failure by EFCC to give security to pay damages, all rendered the objections of EFCC unsustainable.

He therefore finally held that Chief Ozekhome’s motion to de-freeze the account succeeded wholly and that the account should be de-frozen immediately.

END