Court finally issues order unfreezing Patience Jonathan’s account

JUSTICE Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Thursday issued an order, unfreezing the Skye bank account of Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan which has a balance of $5,842,316.66.

The judge made the order after Counsel to Mrs Jonathan, Ifedayo Adedipe SAN, brought an application urging the court to unfreeze the said account on the grounds that Mrs Jonathan was not a party in the suit which culminated into the order being made where her account was seized.

In discharging the order which froze the Skye bank account owned by Mrs Jonathan, Justice Olatoregun held that the suit was an abuse of court process.

It would be recalled that the court had given the freezing order on the grounds that the accounts contains suspected proceeds of crime.

Also affected by the order are five companies and one Esther Oba. The companies collectively have balances totalling N7,418,829,290.94 (seven billion four hundred and eighteen million eight hundred and twenty nine thousand two hundred and ninety naira ninety four kobo) in six commercial banks, while Esther Oba has a balance of $429,381.87.

The court order was sequel to a further affidavit in support of ex-parte originating summons sworn to by Mr Abdulahi Tukur, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and filed before the court by EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo.

Tukur averred that there is an urgent need for the court to direct the managers of the bank accounts contained in the schedule filed with the summons (FHC/L/CS/1343/16) to, in the interim, forfeit the money in the accounts.

The five companies affected are Finchley Top Homes Limited, Aribawa Aruera, Magel Resort Limited, AM -PM Global Network Limited Pansy Oil and Gas Limited.

Finchley Top Homes Limited is alleged to have fraudulently open account number 1102001996 domiciled with Ecobank Plc and has a current balance of N226,376,700.23 and a fixed deposit with a balance of N1,099,511,484.88.

According to the EFCC, the company also fraudulently opened other. Account 1771731336, domiciled with Skye Bank and with a current balance of N14,173,848.85; Fidelity Bank account 4011019539  with a current balance of N1,800,494,000; Stanbic Bank account 0016901361 with a current balance of N40,594,12.88; and Diamond Bank account 0019213687 with a current balance of N39,418,712.12.

Aribawa Aruera Reachout Foundation opened account number 1222014221 with Ecobank and has a closing balance of N479,893,431.01, while Magel Resort Limited accounts (4011019546/5250059782) with Fidelity Bank has a subsisting balance of N1,000,494,000.

The EFCC further said that the company also operates two other accounts (1011744356) in Zenith Bank, which has a balance of N858,923,982, and 0024351590 with Diamond Bank and has a balance of N174,166,207.00.

While AM-PM Global Network Limited opened account number 0026718889 at Diamond Bank and has a balance of N7,213,303.50.

The account opened by Pansy Oil and Gas Limited at Fidelity Bank (4011019577) has a current balance of N1,809,666,494.68, while that of Diamond Bank (0026838491) has a balance of N55,930,024.50.

Esther Oba was found to have opened account number 0019213689 with Diamond Bank and has a current balance of $429,381.87.

All the monies are suspected to be proceeds of crime.

In fighting back against the freezing order, Mrs Jonathan had instituted a $200 million suit against the EFCC challenging the freezing order.