A member of the 9th House of Representatives, Hon. Paschal Obi, has denied the ownership of the Dews of Hope Specialist Hospital Limited, Owerri, estimated at N1. 5bn, which was forfeited to the Federal Government, last week, by a Federal High Court in Owerri.
Obi was the Principal Secretary to former Governor Rochas Okorocha. He represents Ideato South/Ideato North Federal Constituency of Imo State.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had alleged that the hospital was acquired with proceeds of corruption.
The lawmaker, however, refuted the allegations, saying he was neither a director at the hospital, nor a promoter.
In a statement issued in Owerri on Tuesday by his Senior Legislative aide, Peter Ezeala, Obi said, “For some days now, stories with the referenced caption have been trending on the social media. It has also been carried by conventional media outfits.
“We have delayed our response to the story to enable us to find out, first, how a matter that has been pending at the Federal High Court, Port-Harcourt in Suit No: FHC/PH/93/2019 suddenly landed in Owerri and was heard and determined without notice to the interested parties in Suit No: FHC/OW/CS/132/2019.”
He added, “Having made this point, we want to make these clarifications:
“That the suit concerning the Dews of Hope Specialist Hospital was filed by the EFCC at the Federal High Court, Port-Harcourt, in Suit No: FHC/PHC/MISC/93/209.
“That the owners of the hospital made applications and provided documents from the Corporate Affairs Commission showing that Dr. Paschal Obi is not the owner of the said hospital.
“That, based on the facts available to it, the EFCC filed a preliminary objection on 7/8/2019 challenging the competence of Dr. Paschal Obi in the matter, asserting that Dr. Paschal Obi is not a director in Dews of Hope Specialist Hospital and is not also the financier, owner and the promoter of the hospital.
“Following the further application made by the EFCC, the Honourable court made an order on 12th September, 2019 deleting the name of Dews of Hope Specialist Hospital from the list of properties forfeited in the interim to the Federal Government. It remains a surprise how the matter surfaced again at Owerri with the ruling of 6th Dec, 2019.
“While investigations reveal that the said ruling delivered by the Federal High Court, Owerri, on 6th December, 2019 is already subject of a pending appeal at the Court of Appeal by the owners of the hospital, it is important to clarify that contrary to the claims in the media reports, there was no finding or decision by the court that any Imo State Government’s funds was traced to the said hospital.
“We therefore urge the general public to disregard the media reports orchestrated by heartless politicians who want to use this matter to discredit and blackmail, not only the former governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, but also his political aides.”
