Paris club refund: Trouble for 36 governors as court freezes 7 accounts linked to NGF

macfranc007 December 01, 2017 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Nnenna Ibeh

- An Abuja court has frozen seven accounts linked to the Nigerian Governors' Forum

- The forum was accused of diverting funds from proceeds of the Paris Club Refund

- The court also ordered that the account be frozen for 45 days

The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered that seven accounts linked to the Nigerian Governors' Forum be frozen, Punch reports.

The accounts the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission alleged were used by the forum to launder funds to the tune of N10 billion from proceeds of the Paris Club Refund.

In his ruling in Wednesday, November 29, Justice Gabriel Kolawole said the freezing of the seven accounts would last for 45 days.

Justice Kolawole in his order said the EFCCC within the 45 days must either institute charges in respect of the transactions against the relevant suspects or apply to the court for an extension of the order.

He also ordered the account owners - if interested - to file an application seeking to set aside the order of the court within seven days.

The court said the application must be served on the EFCC.

The accounts frozen by the court are: 0002184449 with Jaiz Bank Plc and operated by HAD Properties Limited; 0025600864 with Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and operated by Hassan Ahmed Danbaba; as well as 0005892453 with Access Bank Plc and operated by Melrose General Services Coy.

Others are an Access Bank account: 0045824054 and another Zenith Bank Plc account 1010948906, both of which belong to Bina Consult and Integrated Services, two Access Bank Plc accounts – 0700755576 and 0700946008 – belonging to Farouk Adamu Aliyu and Malam Alu Agro Allied Company Ltd., respectively.

The lawyer to the EFCC, Ben Ikani had prayed the court to freeze the accounts.

Ikani in an ex parte application on November 27, said the N10bn was fraudulently diverted by the NGF under the guise of paying consultancy fee to BizPlus GSCL Consortium.

The EFCC said the forum claimed to have engaged “to carry out reconciliation of accounts and recover the amounts due to the states from the refund of the over-deducted payment of Paris Club debt by the Federal Government from 1995 to 2002."

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NAIJ.com earlier reported that the governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom, denied reports that President Muhammadu Buhari ordered all governors to pay their workers' salaries before Christmas.

Ortom said the president only advised the governors on how best to use the Paris Club Refund.

He said President Buhari only advised them to use 50% of the Paris Club refund to pay salaries.

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