Appeal Court hears Dame Patience’s forfeited $5.9m case Nov 3

 

The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos would on November 3, 2017, hear the appeal filed by immediate past first lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, against the temporary seizure of the$5.9 million found in her Skye Bank account.

The court fixed the new date yesterday during the proceedings in the case.

Mrs. Jonathan’s lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe, had filed the appeal urging the court to reverse the interim order made by Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court in Lagos on April 26, 2017, temporarily forfeiting the sum of $5.9 million found in her Skye Bank account to the federal government.

The forfeiture order followed an ex-parte application filed before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The court had also froze a number of accounts linked to the former first lady, including an Ecobank account, with a balance of N2.4 billion, opened in the name of one La Wari Furniture and Bath Limited.

In a supporting affidavit attached to the ex parte application, the EFCC argued that the funds were suspected to be proceeds of Mrs. Jonathan’s alleged criminal activities.

An EFCC operative, Musbahu Abubakar, who deposed to the affidavit, stated that Mrs. Jonathan opened the Skye Bank account on February 7, 2013, and used it to allegedly warehouse proceeds of crime.

According to him, the former first lady made several cash deposits in United States dollar into the account, through a former Special Assistant to ex-President Jonathan, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, and a State House steward, Festus Iyoha.

He said as of January 30, 2015, the Skye Bank account had a balance of $6.7 million, but Mrs. Jonathan subsequently drew it down to $5.9 million.

EFCC had urged the court to urgently freeze the account so as to prevent her from emptying the account.

 

 

 

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