Patience Jonathan Loses In Court, Forfeits N1.0004bn To FG

Patience Jonathan Loses In Court, Forfeits N1.0004bn To FG

Former First Lady, Patience Jonathan, has forfeited temporarily N1.0004 billion to the Federal Government.

According
to the News Agency of Nigeria, the interim forfeiture followed a court
order secured by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The money was lodged in three deposits with Fidelity Bank Plc on 20th and 25th May 2015.

The
forfeiture order by the Federal High Court sitting in Kano and presided
over by Justice A. Lewis-Allagoa is consequent upon a motion ex parte
filed by the Commission seeking for the interim forfeiture of the money.

The money was found in the account of Magel Resort Limited, a company linked to the former First Lady.

The
Commission had information that a bank account domiciled in Fidelity
Bank, had a huge sum of money that was not being used by anybody.

Upon
receipt of the intelligence, the EFCC swung into action by conducting a
preliminary investigation, which revealed that Patience and some
relatives of former president, Goodluck Jonathan were directors of the
Company.

Others named as directors are Oba Oba Tamunotonye, Goodluck Jonathan Aruera, Goodluck Jonathan Ariwabai and Esther Fynface.

In
trying to trace the origin of the money, it was discovered that
N500,000 was deposited on the 20th of May, 2015 by Fynface, who is
alleged to be in charge of the Company, while N1 billion (One Billion
Naira Only) was transferred in two tranches on the 25th May, 2015 from
PAGMAT OIL AND GAS NIGERIA LIMITED, a company that was not incorporated
with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

Justice A. Lewis-Allagoa
held that: “An interim forfeiture order is granted to the Federal
Government in the sum of N1,000,494,000 (One Billion, Four Hundred and
Ninety Four Thousand Naira Only) in the Bank account of the 1st
respondent Magel Resort Limited 4011019546 which is maintained with 2nd
respondent Fidelity Bank Plc”.

The court further ordered that the forfeited sum be deposited in the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government.