A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday issued an order unfreezing the
\nSkye Bank account of a former First Lady, Patience Jonathan.
\nThe Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had in November 2016
\nfiled an application before the court, seeking an order freezing the
\naccount.
\nThe commission had contended that the funds were reasonably suspected to
\nbe proceeds of crime.
\nThe account is said to harbour the sum of $5.8 million.
\nOn Thursday at the resumed hearing of the case, the court issued an order
\nunfreezing the account following an application filed and argued before
\nthe court by her lawyer, Ifedayo Adedipe, who led a team of lawyers.
\nMr. Adedipe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, had urged the court to unfreeze
\nMrs. Jonathan\u2019s account on the grounds that she was not a party in the
\nsuit leading to the freezing order.
\nCiting judicial authorities, Mr. Adedipe contended that the suit was an
\nabuse of court process as the court had no jurisdiction to make an order
\nagainst one who is not a party in a suit filed before the court.<\/p>\n
In her ruling, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun upheld the submissions of Mr.
\nAdedipe and consequently, discharged the order freezing the account.<\/p>\n
Also affected by the said order are five companies and one Esther Oba said
\nto be having a total sum of N7.4 billion in six different banks.
\nIn a supporting affidavit sworn to by Abdulahi Tukur, an investigating
\nofficer of EFCC, he had averred that there was an urgent need for the
\ncourt to direct a forfeiture of the sum.
\nHe also averred that it was to prevent a dissipation of the funds sought
\nto be forfeited.
\nOther companies affected by the order are Finchley Top Homes Ltd, Aribawa
\nAruera, Magel resort Ltd, AM -PM Global Network Ltd, Pansy Oil and Gas
\nLtd, and Pagmat oil and Gas Ltd.
\nFinchely Top Homes Ltd was said to have a current account credit balance
\nof about N226 million and a fixed deposit with a balance of N1 billion.
\nWhile issuing the interim order, the court had ordered the EFCC to file an
\nundertaking as to damages if the order is found not to have been made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday issued an order unfreezing the Skye Bank account of a former First Lady, Patience Jonathan. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n