The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has filed a criminal charge against Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, over allegations of fraud involving a London property.
The ICPC, in a three-count charge filed by its lawyer, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, Head of the High Profile Prosecution Department, at the Abuja High Court, accused Ozekhome of complicity in the large-scale corruption case.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the fresh charge, marked: FCT/HC/CR/010/26, dated and filed Jan. 16, named the senior lawyer as sole defendant.
The charge was sighted on Sunday.
Count one alleged that Ozekhome, 68 years, of No. 53, Nile Street, Maitama, Abuja, sometime in August 2021 or thereabout in London, within the jurisdiction of the court, directly received House 79, Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX, purportedly given to him by one Mr Shani Tali.
The act he knew constituted a felony and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 13 and punishable under Section 24 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
In count two, Ozekhome was alleged to have, sometime in August 2021 or thereabout, while being a legal practitioner and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, made a false document with a Nigerian passport, A07535463, bearing the name of Mr Shani Tali.
The commission alleged that the senior lawyer did this with the plan to use the same to support a claim of ownership of property known and described as “79, Randall Avenue, London NW2 78X with the intent to commit fraud.”
It said the offence is contrary to Section 363 and punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code, CAP 532, Laws of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, 2006.
Count three accused Ozekhome of dishonestly using a genuine, false “Nigeria passport A07535463, bearing the name of Mr Shani Tali to support the claim of ownership of property known and described as ’79, Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX,’ when he had reason to believe that the said document was false.
The ICPC said the offence is contrary to Section 366 and punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code, CAP 532 Laws of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, 2006.
In support of the charge are the list of exhibits, which include a case number: REF/2023/0155 (judgment) dated Sept. 11, 2025; extra-judicial statement of the defendant dated Jan. 12, 2026.
Others are an interim forfeiture proceeding in respect of House 79, Randall Avenue, London NW2 7SX at the Federal High Court; a letter dated Dec. 18, 2025; a data page for Shani Tali; and any other relevant documents relating to the case, all of which are awaited.
The anti-corruption commission, in its evidence, listed the witnesses who will testify against the defendant, including Mr Wakili Musa and Mr Tosin Olayiwola, both investigators with the ICPC.
Besides, a representative of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), whose name was not mentioned in the proof of evidence, is also expected to give evidence to establish the case against the senior lawyer.
Others are Mr Ebenezer Nduo and Mr Blessing Monokpo, who are also investigators with the ICPC, and any other vital witness by way of subpoena or filing an additional list of witnesses.
At the time the report was filed, the case had not yet been assigned to a judge.
NAN recalls that the ICPC opened an investigation into prominent Nigerian lawyer Ozekhome following a damning judgment by a London property tribunal linking him and others to a web of fraud and forged documents.
The commission’s probe was triggered by a petition from Olanrewaju Suraj, head of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA).
The petition had referenced the British court judgment and accused Ozekhome and several others of conspiring with corrupt Nigerian officials to procure fake national identity documents in a bid to “fraudulently claim ownership” of the North London house.
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