Again, court orders temporary forfeiture of N9.2bn, $8.4m linked to Patience Jonathan

A Federal high court sitting in Lagos has ordered the temporary forfeiture of N9.2 billion and $8.4 million linked to a former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the funds are domiciled in Skye Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank and First Bank Plc

Justice Mojisola Olatoregun made the order following an ex parte application filed by EFCC counsel Rotimi Oyedepo on the 20th of April.

The judge also directed EFCC to publish the order in a national newspaper within 14 days and that the respondent be served with the order.

Respondents in the suit are: Patience Jonathan, five firms and one, Esther Oba.

The firms are: Globus Integrated Services Limited, Finchley Top Homes Limited, Am-Pm Global Network Limited, Pagmat Oil and Gas Limited and Magel Resort Limited.

An investigator with the EFCC, Huleji Tukura, who deposed to a 15-paragraph affidavit in support of the ex-parte application claimed that investigations by the anti-graft agency revealed that the funds found in the bank accounts linked to Patience emanated from the coffers of Bayelsa State.

The funds were said to have been moved at a time when the former first lady served as a permanent secretary in one of the ministries in Bayelsa State.

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According to Tukura, Mrs. Jonathan first opened a First Bank account and then the then Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Domestic Affairs, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, funded the account with “proceeds of unlawful activities.”

“The said Dudafa Waripamo-Owei procured one, Festus Isidohomen Iyoha and Arivi Eneji Peter, who were domestic staff attached to the State House, Abuja, to deposit the funds, reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities, into account of the 1st respondent (Patience).

“In depositing the funds into the account of the 1st respondent, the said domestic staff, in a bid to conceal their identity, deposited the funds, reasonably suspected to be proceeds of an unlawful act, into the 1st respondent’s account, using fictitious names.

“The total sum of $4,036,750.00 reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities, were deposited into account No. 2022648664 domiciled in First Bank Plc in the name of the 1st respondent.

“On the 28th day of September 2016, the 1st respondent, in dissipating the property sought to be forfeited, transferred the sum of $3,640,794.72 to the 1st respondent’s account No. 2031277178 domiciled in First Bank Plc.

“On the 5th day of October 2016, the 1st respondent withdrew the sum of $1,000,000.00 cash from the said account leaving the balance of the sum of $3,645,013.73.

“We are urging this honourable court to forfeit in the interim to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he said in his deposition.

The deponent further averred that the companies mentioned in the application were not into any legitimate income-yielding business venture but were rather incorporated at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for the purpose of warehousing proceeds of unlawful activities for the former first lady.

He claimed that every now and then domestic servants at the Presidential Villa were sent to deposit money into the companies’ accounts for Mrs. Jonathan.

“The depositors into this account are the domestic staff of State House, Abuja, who was procured by the said Dudafa Waripamo-Owei to deposit the funds sought to be forfeited in a bid to conceal the true origin of the funds,” Tukura said.

Consequently, the case was adjourned to the 11th of May, 2018 for interested parties to show cause why the funds should not be finally forfeited to the federal government of Nigeria.