The permanent forfeiture of $4.7 million, N830 million, and assets associated with former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele has been ordered by a federal high court in Lagos.
In a ruling on Friday, presiding judge, Yellim Bogoro granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) final forfeiture application. Omoile Anita Joy, Deep Blue Energy Service Limited, Exactquote Bureau De Change Ltd, Lipam Investment Services Limited, Tatler Services Limited, Rosajul Global Resources Ltd, and TIL Communication Nigeria Ltd. were among the people and organizations that managed the First Bank, Titan Trust Bank, and Zenith Bank accounts that now belong to the federal government.
The properties that are subject to the interim forfeiture include two properties that were acquired from Chevron Nigeria, located in Lakes Estate, Lekki, Lagos; Imore Industrial Park 1 on Esa Street, Imoore Land, Amuwo Odofin LGA, Lagos; 94 units of an 11-story building that is currently under construction at 2 Otunba Elegushi 2nd Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos; and AM Plaza, an 11-story office building on Otunba Adedoyin Crescent, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1, Lagos.
Continuing, a plot at Lekki Foreshore Estate Scheme, Foreshore Estate, Eti-Osa, LGA; an estate owned by Lipam Investment Services at 100 Cottonwood Coppel Texas Drive, Coppel, Texas; land at 1 Bunmi Owulude Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos; and a property at 8 Bayo Kuku Road, Ikoyi, Lagos are among the other properties.
According to Justice Bogoro, all of these assets and money are the result of illegal activity and must be returned to the Federal Government of Nigeria. He said: “I find that the activities of the respondents here were unlawful. Why should they have a problem with dollars immediately after Godwin Emefiele left CBN as a governor of the Bank, and salary could not be made?
“I hold that they are not legitimate business activities.
“I hold that Anita Omoile is a close crony of the former CBN governor Godwin Emefiele who has been given undue influence to unlawfully sway dollars from CBN. Consequently, I find that all the monies and properties in the schedule are finally forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he added.
In its application accessed by BrandSpur Nigeria news, the EFCC, represented by Rotimi Oyedepo SAN, invoked Section 44(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution and Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, to request an interim forfeiture because the money and properties were believed to be the proceeds of illegal activity. After determining that the EFCC’s application had validity, Justice Bogoro ordered the interim forfeiture and required that the decision be published in a national newspaper.
The judge subsequently made the temporary order permanent after the defendants and others failed to demonstrate that the money actually belonged to them. The EFCC’s excellent asset recovery and anti-corruption initiatives, led by Executive Chairman Mr. Ola Olukoyede, are further demonstrated by today’s order.
