Court adjourns EFCC’s suit seeking final forfeiture to FG, Patience Jonathan’s $5.8m

JUSTICE Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Monday adjourned till May 22, EFCC prayers seeking the final forfeiture to the Federal Government, $5.8 million belonging to a former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

The Economic and Financial Crimes is alleging that the said amount lodged in a Skye bank account traced to the former first lady are suspected proceeds of crime.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had brought an expert application seeking the forfeiture of the money to government, pending the determination of the motion on notice.

At Monday’s proceedings, Ifedayo Adedipe, counsel to Mrs Jonathan informed the court of a notice of Appeal he had filed against the court’s ruling as well as a motion for stay of further proceedings.

He argued that the EFCC ought to have waited to abide the decision of the court of appeal in respect of the matter.

Adedipe also noted that the publication of the court’s order in the national daily was only done on May 11, adding that such notice was too short to allow for the filing of any response.

In response, lawyer to the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo stressed that the business of the day was for any interested party to appear and show cause.

He noted that the argument of respondent ‘s counsel, fell outside the purview of the court’s business with respect to the matter at hand, and urged that progress be made.

In her observation, Justice Olatoregun noted that the suit will only be adjourned on the grounds that the time frame of the said publication was short.

She therefore, adjourned the case to May 22, for the respondent or any interested party to appear and show cause why the interim forfeiture order should not be made absolute.

It would be recalled that in a twist of events, Justice Olatoregun had in March, 2017 vacated the earlier order forfeiting the disputed sum in the account to the Federal Government, after Mrs. Jonathan challenged the forfeiture order.

The commission had sought an order directing the interim forfeiture of N2.4 billion discovered in an EcoBank account in the name of La Wari Furniture and Bath Ltd, suspected to be proceeds of crime.

It further sought for the publication in any national newspaper, of the said order, to enable any interested party to appear and show why the interim order should not be made final.

According to the commission, several cash deposits were made by the ex-First Lady in United States Dollars, through Waripamo Dudafa, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

The commission averred that another frequent depositor of funds into the said account was one Festus Iyoha, a steward in the State House, Abuja.

The EFCC said that between February 8, 2013 and January 30, 2015, about $6.7 million suspected to be proceeds of crime were deposited into the account.

According to the commission, Jonathan had dissipated the funds, leaving a balance of about $5.7 million.

It added that N2.03 billion, suspected proceeds of crime, was currently on fixed deposit in the account of La Wari Furniture, in addition to a credit balance of about N389 million.