By Dwelleth Morountodun
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, ordered the final forfeiture of the sums of $8,435,788.84
and another aggregated sum of N9.1 billion traced to Dame Patience, wife of former President, Goodluck Jonathan.
According to EFCC, the court had on April 19, 2018, made an order of interim forfeiture of the various sums of money, following an ex-parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Jonathan and some companies.
The companies named in the suit marked FHC/L/CS/620/18, are: Globus Integrated Service Limited: Finchley Top Homes Limited; AM-PM Global Network Limited; Pagmat Oil and Gas Limited and Magel Resort Limited.
Mr. Tony Orilade, the acting Spokesperson for EFCC, in a statement made available to SHARPEDGENews Online, in Abuja, said in granting the interim forfeiture order, Justice Olatoregun, had ordered the EFCC to publish the order in a national newspaper for the respondent or anyone interested in the money to show cause, within 14 days, why it should not be permanently forfeited to the government.
He said following the publication of the interim forfeiture order, the EFCC, through its counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, had, on October 29, moved a motion for the final forfeiture of the sums of money to the Federal Government.
Dissatisfied with the ruling of the trial court, the first respondent, Jonathan, through her lawyer, Ifedayo Adedipe, SAN, had approached the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, seeking an order to set aside the interim forfeiture order of April 19, 2018 granted to the EFCC by Justice Olatoregun.
Her appeal, however, was subsequently dismissed by the Court of Appeal in Lagos.
In an attempt to claim ownership of the money, the first respondent also approached the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment of the appellate court.
However, the apex court, on March 8, 2019, upheld the interim forfeiture of the funds.
A five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Dattijo Muhammad, in a unanimous decision, refused to set aside the order of temporary forfeiture of the sums of money issued by the trial court.
The apex court held that the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, was right to have affirmed the forfeiture order.
Delivering judgment today, Justice Olatoregun held that the money was reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime.
The Judge also held that: “There is no reason provided in the affidavit to convince the court or to show cause why the monies should not be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“There is no evidence to reasonably show, beyond doubts, that the monies were legitimately earned.”
Justice Olatoregun, therefore, granted the EFCC’s application that the money should be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
Details of the monies traced to, recovered and forfeited to government by Dame Jonathan by the EFCC include: The sum of $3,645,013.73 found by the commission in account No.2031277178 domiciled with First Bank of Nigeria Ltd, $4,361,393.24 found by the commission in account No.1771421299 domiciled with Skye Bank Plc, N1,800,494,000.00, found by the commission in account No.4011019539 domiciled with Fidelity Bank Plc, N226,376,700.23, found by the commission in account No.1102001996 domiciled with Eco Bank Ltd, N1,085,576,947.99, found by the commission in account No.1102001996 domiciled with Eco Bank Ltd, N39,418,712.12, found by the commission in account No.0019213687 domiciled with Diamond Bank Plc, N7,213,303.50, found by the commission in account No.0026718889 domiciled with Diamond Bank Plc, N55,930,024.50, found by the commission in account No.0026838491 domiciled with Diamond Bank Plc, N174,166,207.06, found by the commission in account No.0024351590 domiciled with Diamond Bank Plc, N858,923,982.55, found by the commission in account No.1011744356 domiciled with Zenith Bank Plc, N1,809,666,494.68, found by the Commission in account No.4011019560 domiciled with Fidelity Bank Plc, N1,000,494,000.00found by the commission in account No.4011019546 domiciled with Fidelity Bank Plc, N317,397,458.26, found by the Commission in account No.0016971559 domiciled with Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and N1,809,666,494.68, found by the commission in account No.4011019577 domiciled with Fidelity Bank Plc.