The Federal Government will, on Monday, January 26, arraign a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, before the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, over alleged fraudulent dealings linked to a property in London, United Kingdom.
Court documents obtained on Wednesday indicated that the matter is slated for hearing in Courtroom 4, with Ozekhome listed as the sole defendant and the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the complainant.
The prosecution will be handled by the Head of the High Profile Prosecution Department of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Osuobeni Akponimisingha.
According to the hearing notice, the suit will be moved from the general cause list to the hearing paper for Monday at 9am, while parties seeking any adjournment are required to approach the court timeously with supporting evidence where necessary.
The anti-graft agency filed a three-count charge against the senior lawyer on January 16, bordering on alleged fraud and forgery.
One of the counts accuses Ozekhome of directly receiving a property located at No. 79, Randall Avenue, London, in August 2021, allegedly knowing that the transaction amounted to a felony, an offence said to be contrary to provisions of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act.
Another count alleges that the SAN, while acting in his professional capacity, created a forged Nigerian passport in the name of one Shani Tali to support a disputed ownership claim over the London property, an act said to contravene sections of the Penal Code applicable in the FCT.
The third charge accuses him of knowingly deploying the same forged document to advance the ownership claim, despite being aware that the passport was not genuine.
The case followed a petition submitted to the ICPC by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, led by Olanrewaju Suraj, which drew attention to findings from a British court.
According to the petition, a UK tribunal judgment had linked Ozekhome and others to an alleged scheme involving forged identity documents and corrupt dealings aimed at laying claim to a North London property, prompting the ICPC to commence its investigation.