Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

Hearing on forfeiture of Patience Jonathan’s $5.78m, N2.4b suit gets Oct 7 date

By Joseph Onyekwere
29 June 2021   |   3:42 am
A federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday, adjourned till October 7 to hear a motion seeking the final forfeiture of the $5.78 million and N2.4 billion linked to Dame Patience Jonathan.

A federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday, adjourned till October 7 to hear a motion seeking the final forfeiture of the $5.78 million and N2.4 billion linked to Dame Patience Jonathan.

Justice T.G Ringim fixed the date after taking arguments from counsel to the parties in the matter. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed the application for forfeiture in 2017 before Justice Mojisola Olatoregun.

The defendants are Mrs. Jonathan and LA Wari Furniture and Bathes. According to the anti-graft agency, the funds belong to the ex-First Lady.

The money was sad to be warehoused in Skye Bank Plc and Ecobank Plc. Justice Olatoregun, on April 26, 2017, ordered the temporary forfeiture of the funds, following an ex-parte application by the EFCC.

The order was affirmed by both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. However, midway to the conclusion of hearing on the final forfeiture on the sums, Justice Olatoregun retired from the Bench in 2019.

The development compelled the Chief Judge of the court to re-assign the matter to Justice Chuka Obiozor for hearing. But Justice Obiozor could not hear the case before his transfer to the court’s Benin division.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, related with Justice Ringim how far the matter had gone. The judge, thereafter, adjourned further proceedings to October 7.

0 Comments