Court orders FCMB to pay N540m to pastor wrongly accused of laundering money for Magu

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Tuesday ordered the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) to pay N540.5 million in damages to a pastor, Emmanuel Omale, of the Ministry Divine Hand of God and his wife, Deborah, following a false claim that they laundered 573 million naira for former EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Magu.

Rendering judgment in the lawsuit, Judge Yusuf Halilu found that the bank had breached its "duty of care to the plaintiffs", the Omales and their church.

The judgment related to the lawsuit marked: FCT/HC/CV2541/2020 filed by Mr. Omale, his wife and the church.

The judge ruled that the evidence presented in court showed that the bank had admitted an error in its report to the NFIU regarding entries in the account of the prophetic ministry of the divine hand of God, accused of laundering money in the name of Mr. Magu.

Mr. Halilu also said that the bank claimed that the alleged N573 million was incorrectly reflected as a credit entry in the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry Account by its reporting system, which it recently upgraded. day.

The judge held that the FCMB acknowledged the error, which caused incalculable damage to the plaintiffs' reputations both inside and outside Nigeria, reducing their church membership .

Mr. Halilu said the plaintiffs provided sufficient evidence to establish a case of negligence against the FCMB.

As a result, the judge awarded N200 million as aggravated damages; N140.5 million in specific damages and N200 million in general damages.

Background

During the investigation of Magu by a Presidential Investigative Committee into assets and finances recovered by the federal government from the EFCC from May 2015 to May 2020, it was alleged that an investigation by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has revealed that Mr. Magu, who is now retired from the police, paid 573 million naira into Mr. Omale's church account.

He further alleged that the funds were used to purchase a property for him in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Around the time the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported the panel's report, Mr Magu was facing a barrage of similar allegations from a presidential inquiry panel headed by a former President of the Court of Appeal, Ayo Salami.< /p>

President Muhammad Buhari has refused to release the report of one of the panels to allow the public to have first-hand information about Mr Magu's guilt or otherwise in the indictment and many others brought against him.

The panel headed by Mr. Salami, which conducted its months-long hearing in secret, was allegedly engineered by the Federation Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to have Mr. Magu resign for cause of great differences they shared on various issues.

Mr. Magu, who was suspended as Acting President of the EFCC following the investigation by Mr Salami's panel, has never been recalled or held accountable for any breaches after the panel has submitted its report to Mr. Buhari.

The other panel, titled “Final Report of the Presidential Inquiry Committee into the Recovered Assets and Finances of the Federal Government of the EFCC from May 2015 to May 2020”, was reportedly chaired by Abdullahi Ibrahim, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

He said that Mr. Magu, through a pastor named Omale, laundered public funds to foreign countries.

“As an unknown pastor, the NFIU report showed the huge movement of funds ranging from N573,228,040.41,” the report claims.

The report, published by NAN, delved into other allegations against Mr. Magu, including refusing to cooperate with foreign authorities in an investigation into former Oil Minister Diezani Allison-Madueke, and the dissemination of disproportionate figures on the loot recovered.

The report accuses Mr. Magu of allegedly failing to properly account for the 551 billion naira recovered by the EFCC while he was its acting president.

The report featured prominently during the defamation hearing filed by the Omales to clear their names.

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