By Felix Kuyinu
Justice Akintayo Aluko has declared the arrest of a businessman, Dickson Onuchukwu, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commision (EFCC) as unconstitutional and oppressive.
Justice Aluko, at the Federal High Court in Lagos held that the plaintiff’s harassment, arrest and detention were a violation of human rights, attack to his dignity, personal liberty and freedom of movement.
Onuchukwu, who held that he was arrested several times by the agency filed in a case suit FHC/L/CS/679/2018 through his lawyer, Anthony Omaghomi, suing the EFCC, Inspector-General of Police (IG) and the Lagos Commissioner of Police to court for alleged defamation of character, harassment and unlawful detention.
The businessman said that he was paraded by the EFCC together with one Augustine Emenike and a Russian, Max Lobaty, both declared to be frontrunners of a firm identified as Swiss Golden Africa.
The commission, alleging the trio to be involved in a Ponzi scheme, declared on all its social media handles that the sum of N216 million was recovered following petitions by some Kano State residents that they were scammed of their money.
In his allocutus, Onuchukwu, who claimed to be first arrested by the EFCC in November 2023 at his office in Ikeja, Lagos told the court that he provided documentary evidence to the EFCC that he was not an affiliate of Swiss Golden International.
He told the court that he was also a customer complaining of being swindled, adding that the difference was that he took the business seriously and had been networking and growing in it.
Onuchukwu also prayed the court to award N1billion damages against the respondents.
Justice Aluko held that the EFCC (first respondent) acted illegally and violated the fundamental right of the applicant when it arrested and detained him based on the petitions which were not written against the applicant and where no complaint was lodged against him.
The court ordered EFCC to pay the applicant N5 million while the IGP and Police oommissioner were to pay N2 million as damages.
