Headline

Acting CBN Governor, Shonubi, Deputy, CCB Dragged To Court Over Alleged Refusal To Declare Assets

Published

2 years ago

August 27, 2023

A civil group, the Network Against Corruption and Trafficking Foundation (NACAT), has dragged the Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Folashodun Shonubi, and a Deputy Governor of the apex bank, Edward Adamu, before a Federal High Court in Abuja, over alleged failure to declare their assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

Also joined as defendant in the suit filed by the group’s legal counsel, Festus Keyamo Chambers, is the Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau.

The applicant premised the suit on the strength of Section 1(1) and (2) of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011.

Specifically, the group in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1182/2023 dated August 25, 2023 is alleging that Shonubi refused to declare his interest in the following companies: Intameks Ltd– RC13086; Kirby’s Place Resources Ltd – RC1215845; The Pekaboo Company Ltd – RC1395011; Ehlkuhile Investment Ltd– RC857442; Iscopeng Ltd – RC1431044; and Kilima Technologies Ltd – RC1218250.

Similarly, the applicant is also alleging that Adamu failed to declare his interest in the following Companies: Pinnacle Solutions Network Ltd – RC698688; Elad Global Resources Limited – RC933366 and Global World Frontier Services Nig. Ltd – RC772500.

An affidavit in support of the originating motion deposed to by one Stanley Ugagbe, the operational Manager of NACAT stated the respondents had vehemently refused to avail them of the documents.

Ugagbe averred that the 2nd respondent, (ag, CBN Gov) is listed as a Director in the following Companies: Intameks Ltd– RC13086; Kirby’s Place Resources Ltd – RC1215845; The Pekaboo Company Ltd – RC1395011; Ehlkuhile Investment Ltd – RC857442; Iscopeng Ltd – RC1431044; and Kilima Technologies Ltd – RC1218250.

Also, the deponent claimed that the 3rd respondent is listed as a Director in the following Companies: Pinnacle Solutions Network Ltd – RC698688; Elad Global Resources Limited – RC933366 and Global World Frontier Services Nig. Ltd – RC772500.

As public officers, Ugagbe stated, the 2nd and 3rd respondents have statutory obligations to declare in their Asset Declaration Forms, the interests they have in the above-named companies, while assuming their respective offices as Acting Governor and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

“That the Applicant has a right under the Freedom of Information Act, (FoI) 2011, to access the Assets and Liabilities Declaration Forms of the 2nd and 3rd respondents, in the records of the 1st respondent, with respect to declaration of the 2nd and 3rd Respondents’ interests in the said companies.

“That the applicant has made demand under the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 to the Respondents to produce their Assets and Liabilities Declaration Forms, where the 2nd and 3rd Respondents declared their interests in the said companies, but that the respondents failed, refused, and neglected to produce the said documents.

The applicant submitted that it needed the intervention of the court to compel the 1st and 2nd respondents to grant the request of the applicant, in accordance with Section 1 (3) of the Freedom of Information Act.

The applicants predicated their prayers on the ground that they had written letters dated July 3, 2023, and August 14, 2023, requesting the respondents to produce the said documents, but they refused.

“The respondents have failed, refused and neglected to produce the said documents requested from them, contrary to section 4 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011” the counsel stated.

As public officers, the counsel submitted that the 2nd and 3rd respondents have statutory obligations to declare in their Asset Declaration Forms, the interests they have in the companies while assuming their respective offices as Acting Governor and Deputy Governor of the CBN.

NACAT claimed to be a non-governmental organisation, a pro-democracy civil society organisation whose objectives include contributing to the global war against corruption, financial crimes, terrorism and economic sabotage.

Meanwhile, no date has yet been fixed for hearing of the suit.

Headline

Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

Headline

Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

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“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

Headline

Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a woman in her fifties accused of detonating explosives in a bid to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, in the latest incident of alleged covert activity during the countries’ conflict.

“In August 2025, following the instructions provided by the adversary, the suspect manufactured a homemade explosive device from publicly available components, placed it on the railway tracks and triggered it,” the Russian agency said.

“She recorded the moment of the explosion on her mobile phone camera and sent the footage as a report to the handler to receive a reward.”

The statement did not name the suspect but said she was born in 1974 and carried out the alleged attack in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The FSB warned Russians that it was monitoring social networks and online messenger services such as Telegram and WhatsApp for evidence of Ukrainian services recruiting Russians to carry out sabotage.

Separately, the agency told state news agency TASS that a man had been sentenced to 18 years and six months for transporting explosives on behalf of a “pro-Ukrainian” group.

A resident of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, had, the FSB said, established contact through the Telegram app with a banned “terrorist organisation”.

He allegedly retrieved explosives from a cache on the orders of this group before waiting for “further instructions”, according to the same source cited by TASS.

He was jailed by a military tribunal.

AFP