The criminal case filed by the police against Ghanaian directors of JonahCapital Limited, has been taken over by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice.
JonahCapital is the owner of disputed River Park Estate, Abuja.
The police on June 25, filed a 26-count charge before an FCT High Court in Gwarinpa against Sam Jonah, Kojo Ansah, Victor Quainoo, a company, Mobus Property Nigeria Ltd, and their Nigerian lawyer, Abu Arome, over allegations of forgery.
They were alleged to have forged the ownership document of the company.
But at the resumed hearing yesterday, a state counsel, Aderonke Imana, informed the court that the AGF had instructed her to take over the matter, relying on the powers granted in Section 174 of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999.
“I have the instructions of the honourable Attorney General of the Federation to take over the case from the Nigeria Police Force, so that we can have the opportunity to review the case file because there are a lot of letters and petitions to that effect,” she said.
The counsel noted that the Police have so far failed to release the case file to the AGF.
In the absence of any objection, Justice Modupe-Osho Adebiyi granted the application and fixed the matter for further hearing on November 11.
Objecting to the charges, JonahCapital directors and their lawyer warned about criminalising routine filings with the CAC and land disputes.
They recalled that they had notified land subscribers and the public in May that the police were trying to suppress the 10-man investigation panel that examined the same allegations of forgery made against them by one Paul Odili of Paulo Homes, an adverse claimant in the matter.
They further contended that the latest charges arose from a fresh report allegedly put together by the Head of the IGP Monitoring Unit, DCP Akin Fakorede, which indicted them without hearing their side of the story.
