Court orders temporary forfeiture of Patience Jonathan’s N350m

Court grants temporary forfeiture of N350m allegedly owned by Patience Jonathan.

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, on Tuesday, granted an order for the temporary forfeiture of N350 million allegedly linked to wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience Jonathan.

The presiding judge, Justice Hadiza Rabiu-Shagari gave the directive at the court’s sitting on Tuesday.

Naija News recalls that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had alleged that the cash was transferred to a company’s account while Mrs Jonathan was serving as a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State between 2012 and 2013.

The commission also claimed that Patience “unlawfully enriched” herself with the money.

The court order was as a result of EFCC’s ex-parte application filed by the agency’s lawyer, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo.

In a supporting affidavit to the application, an investigating officer at EFCC, Musbahu Yahaya, said the anti-graft agency received “a cogent, direct and positive intelligence report” that a company, AM-PM Global Network Limited, was in custody of proceeds of the illicit act and retained it in an account.

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He said between June 20, 2012 and November 15, 2013, the company fraudulently received ₦1,206,950,000 via its Diamond Bank account, and that the money was “proceeds of unlawful enrichment” derived by Mrs Dame Patience Jonathan.

“Out of the alleged proceed of unlawful enrichment of Mrs Dame Patience Jonathan, the respondent transferred the total sum of N350 million from its account in Diamond Bank to the account sought to be attached (Stanbic IBTC) in a desperate bid to dissipate the funds.

“We have traced the said N350 million to the respondent’s (AM-PM Global Network’s) account sought to be attached and the order of this court is needed to instruct the bank to attach the account to prevent the dissipation of the funds,” he said.

Justice Hadiza decided the application as prayed, and granted “an order directing Manager of the Stanbic IBTC Bank to in the interim freeze the account pending the determination of the investigation and possible prosecution of this case.”