A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of N449,750,000 found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an abandoned Bureau de Change shop in Victoria Island.
Justice Rilawan Aikawa, today, Wednesday said the anti-graft agency should temporarily take custody of the money following an ex parte application brought before him by the EFCC.
An investigator with the EFCC, Moses Awolusi, said in the affidavit filed before the judge that the shop, number LS64, located at Legico Shopping Plaza, at Victoria island, Lagos had not been opened for two years.
According to him, the money was found on April 7, 2017 in several “Ghana Must Go” sacks, adding that the EFCC recovered the money after investigating intelligence information received on one Mohammed Tauheed.
Awolusi said Tauheed had earlier been brought to the EFCC office by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Legico shopping Plaza, Mr. Sulaiman Daba and Alhaji Ishaq Ayandiran, respectively.
The EFCC said it would be in the interest of justice for the court to order the temporary forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government.
After studying the application, Justice Aikawa ordered that the N449,750,000 should be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government.
He ordered the EFCC to advertise the order in a national newspaper and gave 14 days for any interested party to appear in court to give reasons why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
It would be recalled that the Lagos state zonal office of the EFCC, had recovered over 449 million naira in an abandoned bureau the change in Lagos State.
The judge adjourned the case to May 19. [myad]
