BEVERLY HILLS, January 01, (THEWILL) – The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has told the Federal High Court in Lagos that former First Lady Patience Jonathan could not have genuinely earned the $15.5million which she claims ownership of saying the money was stolen from the Federal Government of Nigeria and its agencies.
Mrs Jonathan had challenging the freezing of her accounts and sued the EFCC, Skye Bank Plc and three companies – Pluto Property and Investment Company Ltd, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Ltd and Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Ltd.
She is praying for an order restraining the defendants from tampering with her funds in the companies’ accounts domiciled in Skye Bank and asked for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the EFCC from transferring the funds to the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA).
Mrs Jonanthan said the funds in the companies’ accounts belonged to her claiming that the representatives of the companies, who pleaded guilty to laundering the money, were unknown to her; nor were they authorised to represent them.
In her written address, she accused the EFCC making moves to take her money from her through an order of forfeiture including the “procurement of some unknown persons who pleaded guilty to a charge and were convicted on November 2, 2016.”
But, EFCC, in its statement of defence, said its investigations revealed that the money was allegedly stolen from the Federal Government and its agencies, and that it does not belong to the former First Lady arguing that Mrs Jonathan does not run any business from which she could have earned such huge sums.
The agencies, it said, were the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), etc.
“There is no way the plaintiff (Mrs Jonathan) could have genuinely earned the monies. She is the wife of the former president, a civil servant and a retired permanent secretary in Bayelsa State,” it stated.
“She does not run any profit and interest yielding business venture to generate such money.
“Investigation conducted by the first defendant (EFCC) revealed that the plaintiff is not the owner of the funds in the accounts of the third to fifth defendants (companies), which funds were discovered to be proceeds of fraudulent activities of Waripamo-Owei Emmanuel Dudafa.”
The case will be heard on January 19.
