*As court dismisses suit
Alex Enumah in Abuja
The 36 states of the federation on Friday failed to stop the federal government from deducting from their funds in the federation accounts to pay debt owed consultants in the Paris Club Refund.
This is due to the dismissal of the suit filed on behalf of the states by their various Attorneys-General for lack of merit.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, had dismissed the suit filed by the states on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked the legal powers to institute the suit.
The Attorney General of Abia State and its counterparts in the 35 states had approached the court to stop the federal government from going ahead with the planned deductions of their funds in the federation accounts to pay six consultants that helped the states recover excess deductions in payment of the Paris and London Club loans.
President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the deduction of the sum of$480 million being judgment debt entered against the 36 states over their failure to pay contractors that helped them recover excess deductions in the Paris Club refund.
Amongst the reasons adduced by the AGs was that they never authorized any payments and that the said contracts were suspected as fraud hence the need for the court to stop the planned deductions.
However, delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Ekwo held that the plaintiffs, who are political appointees of their various states governor, lacked the powers to initiate the suit without the consent of the governors.
The court aslo dismissed the suit as an abuse of court process because according to the judge, the plaintiffs by the suit are seeking to get the court to review the judgment of $480 million entered against the 36 states.
Ekwo explained that what the plaintiffs should have done was to have filed a suit to set aside the judgment debt.
He subsequently dismissed the suit for lacking merit.
Details later…
Paris Club Refund: States Fail to Stop Deduction of $480M Judgment Debt
