The former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke has lost the bid to retrieve her jewellery and a customised gold iPhone forfeited to the Federal Government.
This happened after the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos state on Tuesday 10th September 2019, ordered the permanent forfeiture of the 2,149 pieces of jewellery and a customised gold iPhone, valued at $40m, recovered from the former minister’s house in Abuja.
An investigator with the Commission, Rufai Zaki, in an affidavit put before the court insisted that the jewellery were beyond the former Minister’s “known and provable lawful income”.
The anti-graft agency said the items were beyond Diezani’s legitimate earnings.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo ordered the forfeiture on Tuesday.
He said the former minister failed to show cause why the pieces of jewellery should not be forfeited to the federal government.
According to the schedule attached to the case, the jewelleries are categorized 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.