Justice Suleiman Belgore of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has cleared Abuja-based lawyer Ted Iseghohi-Edwards of any allegation of fraud or criminal conduct in the services he rendered to the 774 local governments regarding the London and Paris Club refunds.
The Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) retained Iseghohi-Edwards to represent the 774 LGAs in the London/Paris Club refunds matters.
In a judgment, Justice Belgore upheld the fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the plaintiff and held that his rights were unjustly breached by the respondents, who arrested, detained him, and continued to threaten to arrest and prosecute him
Respondents in the suit are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN)
Justice Belgore further held that the report issued by the EFCC on August 14, 2024, titled “Re: Request for investigation report on London-Paris Club matters,” in which the applicant was accused of fraud, was fabricated solely to damage his reputation.
The judge noted that the 2024 report by the EFCC lacked depth and is in conflict with the earlier reports issued in 2016 by the EFCC and the Department of State Services (DSS) on the same issue and in which Dr. Iseghohi-Edwards was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Justice Belgore held that, having been earlier investigated and cleared on the issue by the EFCC and DSS, the respondents cannot purport to issue another contrary countermanding investigative report five years later to contradict earlier final investigative reports and findings on Dr. Iseghohi-Edwards.
The judge, who described the EFCC’s 2024 report as a contraption, an effort to stain the applicant and destroy his image, proceeded to issue an order voiding the report.
He found that there is no element of criminal or fraudulent allegation against the applicant in the earlier investigation reports of the EFCC and DSS investigations.
Justice Belgore held that there was evidence that there was a valid contractual agreement between the applicant and the Incorporated Trustees of ALGON, which was further confirmed by the series of judgments he tendered in court.
The judge said, “There were negotiated terms of engagement between the Incorporated Trustees of ALGON and the applicant. These terms of engagement were renegotiated by parties in open court on September 15, 2016.”
Justice Belgore held that the 10 promissory notes issued to the applicant in compliance with a valid order of mandamus made against the Federal Government by a Federal High Court were validly issued by then President Muhammadu Buhari.
The judge, who faulted the AGF and the EFCC for subjecting court judgments obtained by the applicant to their private investigation rather than taking steps to appeal, said it was also wrong of them to doubt the authenticity of the promissory notes issued by President Buhari.
Justice Belgore, who granted 20 out of the 21 reliefs sought in the suit, issued an order that the respondents and their agents have no legal right to investigate purely civil matters already adjudicated by courts of competent jurisdiction and such investigation of civil matters has infringed and is likely to further infringe on the fundamental rights of the applicant.
The judge also issued an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents and their agents from criminalizing and impugning the integrity of judgments and decisions of competent courts of record and from petitioning, questioning, further inviting, arresting, harassing, taking statements, impeding the movement of, harming, shooting, killing, charging, prosecuting, detaining and imprisoning the applicant in relation to the same issue of the London and Paris Clubs refunds.
Lawyer to the EFCC, L. P. Apo, who commended the judge for the industry he deployed, said the 2024 report by the EFCC, which claimed that the applicant obtained the judgments fraudulently, was made because Dr. Iseghohi-Edwards filed a suit in the United States of America against the Nigerian government to dematerialize the promissory notes.
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