Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the interim forfeiture of $1,426,175.14 million linked to a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to the federal government.
Justice Faji made the order after entertaining an Exparte motion marked FHC/L/CS/232/2024, brought before him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through one of its lawyers, Mrs Bilikisu Buhari-Bala.
Buhari-Bala had told the judge that the money sought to be forfeited in the interim is in Donatone Limited’s account number, 2000000500, domiciled in a commercial bank.
The court, however, ordered the EFCC to publish the order in a national newspaper so that interested parties could appear before it within 14 days to show cause why the final order of forfeiture of the said sum should not be made in favour of the federal government.
While moving the motion, Mrs Buhari-Bala informed the court that the application was brought under Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud-related Offences Act No. 14, 2006, and Section 44 (2)(B) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The lawyer also stated that the grounds for the application are “that this honourable court has the statutory powers under the provisions of section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, to grant the reliefs being sought.
“That the funds sought to be forfeited are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities,” she submitted.
Mrs Buhari-Bala further told the judge that the motion ex-parte is supported by an affidavit deposed to by an EFCC investigator, David Jayeoba.
In the affidavit attached to the application, the deponent stated that his commission received credible and directed intelligence which led to the tracing of funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities warehoused in the Donatone Limited (DL) account, which funds are reasonably suspected to be part of proceeds of illegal activities.
Jayeoba averred that the EFCC, while investigating the monumental fraud carried out by the erstwhile Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele and his cronies, discovered a considerable amount of money warehoused and concealed in the account of Donatone Limited, domiciled in Titan Trust Bank.
He stated that investigation revealed that some of the brains behind the fraudulent concealment of funds reasonably suspected to have been proceeds of unlawful activities of the erstwhile Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, are the natural persons behind Donatone Limited, Uzeobo Anthony and Adebanjo Olurotimi, who are directorS of Donatone Limited.
The anti-graft agency’s investigator further claimed, “Between 2021 and 2022, when accessibility to Forex in Nigeria was difficult, several international entities operating in Nigeria had to resort to different means to source Forex.
“That Uzeobo Anthony and Adebanjo Olurotimi used the firm to collect bribes and gratification on behalf of Godwin Emefiele to get approval for accessing Forex. And that one of the entities (NP) paid a total sum of $26,552 million into an account number 2000000500.
“That the said credits came into the account of the firm on November 9, 2021: $6,450,000; November 5, 2021: $6,050,000.00; December 16, 2021: $5,400,000.00; December 23, 2021: $652,000; January 31 2022; $3,000,000.00 and September 21, 2022: $5,000,000.00.
“The investigation traced the funds to having been fixed into interest-yielding accounts, dissipated and laundered through a foreign account in Mauritius, and transported back to Nigeria under disguise.
“That of the total sum of$26 555 000.00 US dollars received by the firm, the balance standing in the said account as of today is the sum of $1 426 175.14 million.
“That it is the balance in the account that the applicant seeks to forfeit to the Federal Government of Nigeria, which has been traced to be the proceeds of unlawful activities of (GE) and his cronies. That investigation further revealed that the international entities sourcing for forex were pressured to part ways with considerable funds to access forex during the period.
“That the signatories to the account warehousing the sum of $1 42 175.14 million USD sought to be forfeited are at large and are making frantic efforts to dissipate the funds electronically. And based on our investigation findings, the funds sought to be forfeited are proceeds of unlawful activities of (GE) and his cronies. And that it is in the interest of justice to grant this application,” Jayeoba stated.
Justice Faji adjourned the matter to June 25 for a hearing of the motion for the final forfeiture of the money.
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