Former
minister of finance says she is unaware of any court judgment asking her to
account for an alleged missing N30trillion, describing the suit as 'dubious and
politically motivated.
We
reported it here yesterday that in a suit filed by Socio-Economic Right
Accountability Project (SERAP), former minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the
immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, was
ordered by Ibrahim Buba, a justice of the federal high court Abuja, to account
for the alleged missing N30 trillion under its administration.
In
a statement on Monday by Paul Nwabuikwu the spokesman of Okonjo-Iweala, said
that the former minister is unaware of any court judgment asking her to account
for an alleged missing N30trn, describing the suit as 'dubious and politically
motivated', adding that she had not been served with the court judgment
Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala who disclosed that she had instructed her lawyers to take legal
action on the matter, said;
“Our
attention has been drawn to media reports regarding a court judgment alleged to
have been entered against the federal government of Nigeria and Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala in respect of an action by the Socio-Economic Rights Agenda
(SERAP) pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.
“The
high court, according to the media reports, ordered the Federal government and
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala to provide information relating to N30 trillion Naira
allegedly unaccounted for.
“Dr
Okonjo-Iweala hastens to state that she was never served with any court
processes in relation to the said matter. She has not read the judgment and
would therefore defer any comments on the matter.
“However
from the media reports, the case was instituted in February 2015 but was not
served until July 2015 after Dr Okonjo-Iweala had already ceased to be the
Minister of Finance.
“By
the date the said papers were purportedly served Dr Okonjo-Iweala was no longer
a public officer and could therefore not be the subject of a request for
production of any documents or information under the Freedom of information
Act.
“The
court processes must have been served on others because the attention of Dr
Okonjo-Iweala was never drawn to the matter in which she appears to have been
sued personally. She therefore did not engage any lawyer to act for her in the
matter.
“The
decision of SERAP to anchor its case on a baseless and unsubstantiated
allegation by former CBN governor Professor Charles Soludo that N30 trillion –
about seven times the total annual budget during the Jonathan administration –
is missing confirms SERAP’s dubious motives and its role as a tool for
politically motivated actors.
“It
is curious that the first time Dr Okonjo-Iweala is being made aware of a matter
filed against her in court is in news reports reporting the delivery of
judgment. She has instructed her lawyers to take steps to set aside the
judgment as it affects her.”
About Unknown
0 comments:
Post a Comment