Court orders permanent forfeiture of Diezani’s jewellery, customised iPhone

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 in Lagos on Tuesday 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.

In a ruling on Tuesday, Justice Nicholas Nicholas Oweibo held that Diezani, through her lawyer, Awa Kalu (SAN), failed to show cause why the items should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had told the judge that the jewellery and iPhone were reasonably suspected to be acquired with fraud proceeds.

The anti-graft agency said the items were beyond Diezani’s legitimate earnings.