The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the forfeiture of $1,426,175.14, which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has linked to former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele.
The court ruled that the funds were proceeds of illegal activities.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, Justice Ayokunle Faji ruled that the amount must be forfeited to the federal government, as the EFCC had successfully established its unlawful origin.
The ruling came after an application by the EFCC, represented by its counsel Bilkisu Bahri-Bala. The Commission argued that the funds were held in the account of Donatone Limited at Titan Trust Bank (account number 2000000500) and were traced to illicit financial transactions.
As a result, the judge ordered the forfeiture of the sum to the federal government, affirming that the EFCC had demonstrated the illegal nature of the funds.
Through its counsel, Bilkisu Bahri-Bala, the EFCC had informed the court that the $1.4 million was stored in the Donatone Limited account at Titan Trust Bank, and had been determined to be proceeds of criminal activities.
An affidavit filed by David Jayeoba, an EFCC investigating officer, revealed that intelligence reports prompted the forfeiture proceedings.
Jayeoba said: “In the course of my investigation, the Commission received credible and direct intelligence which led to the tracing of funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities warehoused in the Donatone Limited (DL) Titan Trust Bank account, which funds are reasonably suspected to be part of proceeds of unlawful activities.
“While investigating the monumental fraud carried out by the erstwhile Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele and his Cronies, we discovered a huge amount of money warehoused and concealed in the account of (DL)domiciled in Titan Trust Bank.
“The investigation revealed that some of the brains behind the fraudulent concealment of funds reasonably suspected to have been proceeds of unlawful activities of the erstwhile Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, are the natural persons Uzeobo Anthony and Adebanjo Olurotimi, directors of DL.
“That part of the said funds, which represent the proceeds of Emefiele and his cronies’ unlawful activities, are retained in the accounts now sought to be forfeited. These directors were procured by Emefiele and used to conceal, retain, and disguise funds which are the proceeds of unlawful activities.
“Between 2021 and 2022, when accessibility to Forex in Nigeria was difficult, several international entities operating in Nigeria had to resort to different means to source Forex. Emefiele used his cronies to collect bribes and gratification from various entities to get approval for accessing Forex.
“One of the entities (NP) paid a total sum of Twenty-Six Million Five Hundred and Fifty-Five Thousand Million Dollars ($26,552,000.00) into the account of (DL) domiciled in Titan Trust account number 200000”.
Justice Faji had, on the 30th of May 2024, ordered the interim forfeiture of the unlawful funds.
