The Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture to the Federal Government, of the sum of $1.4 million, linked to a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele.
Justice Ayokunle Faji gave the order after hearing an application filed and argued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
This order is coming a few days after another judge of the same court, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, ordered the final forfeiture of over N12.18bn in money and properties linked to the same Emefiele.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, counsel to the EFCC, Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, urged Justice Faji to grant the final forfeiture order of the money, domiciled in an account number in Titan Trust Limited, to the Nigeria government.
The EFCC counsel told the court that the application is pursuant to 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.
Buhari also told the court that the application for the final forfeiture of the said sum has been established to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
The applicant was supported by an affidavit deposed to by one David Jayeoba, an Investigating Officer with the EFCC, alongside a written address.
In the affidavit, the deponent stated that his Commission received credible and direct intelligence which led to the tracing of funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities, warehoused in the Donatone Limited (DL) Titan Trust Bank account, which funds are reasonably suspected to be part of proceeds of unlawful activities.
He said that the Commission, whilst investigating the monumental fraud carried out by the erstwhile CBN governor and his cronies, discovered a huge amount of money warehoused and concealed in the account of (DL) domiciled in Titan Trust Bank. According to him, some of the brains behind the fraudulent concealment of funds reasonably suspected to have been proceeds of unlawful activities of Emefiele are the natural persons behind DL: Uzeobo Anthony and Adebanjo Olurotimi who are directors of DL.