Alleged money laundering: Patience Jonathan petitions Reps against EFCC harassment

The wife of the immediate past President, Patience Jonathan on Thursday petitioned the House of Representatives over alleged harassment by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The petition against the EFCC was laid before the House at the plenary on Wednesday by Hon Lovette Idisi, a legislator from Delta State.

In the petition, the former First Lady alleged that she was being “incessantly harassed” by the operatives of the anti-graft agency over alleged money laundering.

The lawmaker explained that Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution as amended clearly stated that everyone “is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

According to the lawmaker, “This petition is in line with section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended where every citizen is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“Mr Speaker, the constant harassment of the former First Lady is a petition emanated from her that was sent to my office. With the leave of the house I seek your permission to lay the petition before the house.”

After the petition was laid by Idisi before the House, the Speaker, Honourable Yakubu Dogara, referred it to the committee on Public Petitions for further legislative action.

Recall that four companies allegedly belonging to Patience Jonathan had pleaded guilty to money laundering charges filed against them by the EFCC to the tune of $15.59 million.

The four companies, Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Avalon Global Property Development Company Limited, had all pleaded guilty to all the counts in the amended charge of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, through their representative, Agbo Michael, Friday Davis and Kola Fredrick.

But the alleged company directors, when first arraigned before Justice AbdulAziz Anka, had denied having any link with the companies, claiming they did not know when their passport photographs and signatures were used to register the companies.

However, the three companies had stated that they were not confident that the people that appeared before the court were their real representatives.

Former aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamo Dudafa, and the two others had pleaded not guilty while the fourth to seventh defendants, whose authenticity as the true representatives of the company was being challenged, pleaded guilty and admitted culpability before the court.

Also, former First Lady, Mrs Jonathan, had picked holes in the authenticity of the representatives of the four companies who pleaded guilty to charges bordering on money laundering before Justice Babs Kuewumi of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.