A new searchlight may have been beamed at the Member Representing Ideato Federal constituency, Dr Paschal Obi, over the circumstances surrounding the ownership of the billion naira worth Dews of Hope Hospital in Owerri.
Controversy has been trailing the ownership of the state-of-art hospital as an Owerri High Court ordered final forfeiture.
Trumpeta recalls that the hospital was among the property and outfits belonging to the family of the former governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha the EFCC seized immediately he left office on May 29, 2019, before a court order reverted it.
With the final forfeiture, this newspaper was informed that the continued denial of Dr Obi of involvement in the ownership have prompted the EFCC to go further to probe the sources for the finding. Trumpeta was reliably informed that Obi has started playing quest to the EFCC and was reported to have been there last week.
Obi in the past 8 years was Principal Secretary to former governor Rochas Okorocha. Apart from investigations linking him with the Dews of Hope hospital as EFCC claimed, other property said to have been acquired while in office may also come under scrutiny.
A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri, Imo state capital, ordered final forfeiture of Dews of Hope Hospital, Owerri, a N1.5 billion state-of-the-art 200-bed hospital, linked to an aide of Rochas Okorocha, a former governor of Imo state and serving senator.
Based on an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), T.G Ringin, judge of a federal high court in Port Harcourt, had given an interim forfeiture of the property on August 22, 2019.
The EFCC had told the court that it had evidence that the facility was acquired through “proceeds of illicit activities”, saying funds from government house, Owerri were traced to the hospital.
The commission said its investigation revealed that Paschal Obi, former permanent secretary and principal secretary to Okorocha was a signatory to the accounts.
Obi, now a serving member of the House of Representatives, has denied ownership of the medical facility.
Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the EFCC, said when he honoured the invitation of the commission, the managing director of the hospital, could not also explain how the project was funded.
“These developments led the Commission to file for the forfeiture of the property on July 25, 2019 under Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006,” Uwujaren said in a statement.
“In granting the request for the interim forfeiture of the property, the court ordered the anti-graft agency to publish the Order in a national newspaper, which was accordingly complied with in the Nation Newspaper of August 30, 2019 and Leadership Newspaper of September 3,2019 respectively, asking interested parties to show cause why the property should not be forfeited to the federal government within fourteen days from the dates of the publications.
“Upon the expiration of the fourteen day notice and with no one showing interest in the hospital, the Commission filed for the final forfeiture of the facility.”
Meanwhile, Dr Obi has denied ownership of the hospital. In a statement, he stated that it was wrong to link him with the hospital project after the head of the facility denied his involvement.
