A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of the Abuja mansion acquired by a former Plateau State Governor Joshua Dariye to the Federal Government.
Dariye is currently serving a jail term, following his successful prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for criminal breach of trust and dishonest conversion of about N1.2 billion belonging to Plateau State.
In a judgment yesterday, Justice Obiora Egwuatu dismissed Dariye’s application in which he had, among others, prayed the court to release the property at Plot 1802 A04, Number 19 Fredrick Chiluba Close, Asokoro, Abuja, to him.
Justice Egwuatu upheld the argument by lawyer to the EFCC, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, that Dariye’s claim that the property belonged to his company – Ebenezer Retnan Ventures – was false because the company had been found to be a bogus entity.
The judge found that an earlier interim forfeiture order on the property, obtained by the EFCC in the course of Dariye’s trial, was never contested.
He added that in view of the findings by the trial court that he was masquerading in the name of Ebenezer Retnan Ventures, an unregistered company and in whose name the property was acquired, he could not claim legitimate ownership of the property.
The EFCC had, while opposing Dariye’s application, argued, among others, that it obtained an interim forfeiture order on the property in the course of Dariye’s trial, which order was to subsist pending the conclusion of the trial.
It added that since the trial had been concluded and Dariye jailed, it was proper that the court order the final forfeiture of the convict’s known property.