The Federal Government has filed a fresh 12-count charge against prominent lawyer Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, alleging forgery, abetment of fraud, and using a false Nigerian passport to claim ownership of a disputed property at No. 79 Randall Avenue, London, and collecting £18,000 in rent from the property.
The Federal Government on Tuesday filed a fresh 12-count charge against prominent lawyer Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, following his alleged complicity in a web of fraud perpetrated in a bid to claim ownership of a disputed property in the United Kingdom.
Specifically, Ozekhome, in the charge entered before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, was slammed with allegations of forgery and abetment of an offence. The Federal Government alleged that sometime in 2020, he agreed with one Ponfa Useni (aka Tali Shani) and General Jeremiah Useni (now deceased) to commit an illegal act by making a false Nigerian International Passport No. A07535463 with the name Tali Shani, claiming the forged passport was issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service “with the intent of using the same to support your claim of a property, lying, being, and situate at No. 79 Randall Avenue, London NW2, United Kingdom, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 96 of the Penal Code Law 2009 and punishable under section 364 of the same Law.”
According to the charge signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Ozekhome further abetted the commission of an offence of cheating by personation when he jointly executed an irrevocable power of attorney dated May 30, 2020, with one Tali Shani, “a fictitious person,” to facilitate the claim of the UK property, and thereby committed an offence contrary to sections 83, 84, 321 of the Penal Code Law, 2009, and punishable under section 322 of the same Law. While Count 9 of the charge alleged that he took control of the UK property, which is reasonably suspected to have been unlawfully obtained by General Jeremiah Useni (now deceased) under the fictitious name Tali Shani, Count 10 alleged he collected the sum of £18,000.00 as rent that accrued from the property.
The charge came hours after the high court struck out a three-count charge the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission earlier filed against the senior lawyer when it was withdrawn by the Attorney General of the Federation on Tuesday. No date has been fixed for the defendants to be arraigned.