Suspended NIA DG’s wife bought Ikoyi Flat 7B with $1.658m, EFCC tells court

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) specifically named Mrs. Folashade Oke as the owner of Flat 7B, No. 13, Osborne Road, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the anti graft commission recovered  $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000.

The anti graft Commission also told a Federal High Court in Ikoyi on Friday that Mrs. Oke, the wife of the suspended NIA Director General, Ayo Oke, paid the lump sum of  $1.658m for the purchase of the flat between August 25 and September 3, 2015

According to EFCC, Mrs.Oke bought the property in the name of a company, Chobe Ventures Limited, to which she and her son, Master Ayodele Oke Junior, were directors, using a company, Fine and Country Limited to pay for the apartment.

Mrs. Oke it was alleged, made the cash payment of $700,000, $650,000 and $353,700 to a Bureau de Change company, Sulah Petroleum and Gas Limited, which later converted the sums into N360,000,000 and subsequently paid it to Fine and Country Limited for the purchase of the property.

The anti graft Commission on Fridaytendered the receipt issued by Fine and Country Limited to Chobe Ventures Limited as exhibit before the  Court.

Specifically, EFCC is seeking an order of final forfeiture of the recovered money to the Federal Government.

“The circumstances leading to the discovery of the huge sums stockpiled in Flat 7B, Osborne Towers leaves no one in doubt that the act was pursuant to an unlawful activity.

“The very act of making cash payment of $1.6m without going through any financial institution by Mrs. Folashade Oke for the acquisition of Flat 7B, Osborne Towers, is a criminal act punishable by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Amendment Act. I refer My Lord to sections 1(a), 16(d) and 16(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Amendment Act,” Rotimi Oyedepo, an EFCC Prosecutor, told the court.

According to an affidavit filed before the court, EFCC maintained that Chobe Ventures Limited is not into any business but was merely incorporated to retain proceeds of suspected unlawful activities of Mrs. Folashade Oke.

Oyedepo further told the court that despite the newspaper advertisement of the initial order of April 13, 2017 temporarily forfeiting the money to the Federal Government, no one showed up in court on Friday to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.