A Judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to publish the interim order on the possible forfeiture of $5.7million belonging to the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience.
The Judge, today, Monday, ruled that the interim order should be published in a newspaper to enable any interested party to appear before the court within 14 days to “show cause” as to why a final order of forfeiture should not be made in favour of the federal government.
The EFCC had sought for the final forfeiture of what it called the remaining $5,731,173.55 after the wife of the former President had allegedly part of the $6,791,599.64 (about N2.1billion) which she paid into her account between February 8, 2013 and January 30, 2015.
The anti crime agent said the the money, which Dame Patience allegedly directed her aides to pay into her account while her husband was president, was suspected to be proceed of unlawful activities.
It said she later spent $949,282.98 (about N296,141,911) from the money apart from withdrawing another $100,000 from the account in April, leaving a balance of $5,731,173.55.
EFCC prayed the court to order the temporary forfeiture of the remaining sum to prevent her from further dissipating it.
This was even as Dame Patience’s lawyer, Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), urged the court not to order a final forfeiture of the money, saying that his client was not given sufficient time to “show cause” why the money should not be forfeited to the federal government. [myad]
