Nigeria Court of Appeal rejects EFCC bid to challenge Aisha Achimugu ruling

The Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has dismissed an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking permission to challenge its judgment regarding the frozen bank accounts of businesswoman Aisha Achimugu at the Supreme Court.

The appellate court's decision upholds a July 22 judgment that vacated an interim order freezing bank accounts linked to Achimugu and her associated companies. The court ruled that allowing the interim freezing order to remain in force for more than 15 months constituted an abuse of the court process, noting that such orders are intended to preserve disputed funds only temporarily.

The legal dispute involved the restriction of transactions on several accounts and a controversial N1.8bn transfer from a SunTrust Bank account to a Central Bank of Nigeria/EFCC recovery account while the freezing order was active. While a Federal High Court judge previously ruled the transfer unlawful, the Court of Appeal maintained that its decision to vacate the freezing order did not validate the legality of the EFCC’s transfer directive.