BEVERLY HILLS, July 01, (THEWILL) –Â A Federal High Court Sitting in Lagos has ordered the permanent forfeiture to the Federal Government, the sum of $8.4million and another N9.2billion linked to the wife of the former President, Dame Patience Jonathan.
The judgment followed an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which said the funds were proceeds of crime.
Justice Mojisola Olaterogun held that she failed to show reasonable cause why the funds should not be permanently forfeited.
The court found that the funds as claimed by the EFCC was reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.
Though Patience, through her lawyers, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN) and Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), opposed the application and insisted that the funds were legitimately her own, the court held that the EFCC proved its claim beyond reasonable doubts.
