Former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has forfeited temporarily N1.0004 billion to the Federal Government.
The interim forfeiture of the money said to have been lodged in three deposits with Fidelity Bank Plc on 20th and 25th May 2015, followed a court order secured by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The forfeiture order was granted by a Federal High Court sitting in Kano, presided over by Justice A. Lewis-Allagoa, arising from a motion ex-parte filed by the EFCC seeking the interim forfeiture of the money it said was found in the account of Magel Resort Limited, a company linked to Dame Patience Jonathan.
In his ruling, Justice A. Lewis-Allagoa held that: “An interim forfeiture order is granted to the Federal Government in the sum of N1,000,494,000 (One Billion, Four Hundred and Ninety-Four Thousand Naira Only) in the Bank account of the 1st respondent Magel Resort Limited 4011019546 which is maintained with 2nd respondent Fidelity Bank Plc.”
The EFCC said it got an intelligence that a bank account domiciled in Fidelity Bank, had a huge sum of money that was not being used by anybody, consequent upon which it swung into action by conducting preliminary investigation, which revealed that Patience and some relatives of former President Goodluck Jonathan including Oba Tamunotonye, Goodluck Jonathan Aruera, Goodluck Jonathan Ariwabai and Esther Fynface, were directors of the company.
The EFCC said in trying to trace the origin of the money, it was discovered that N500,000 was deposited on the 20th of May, 2015 by Fynface, who is alleged to be in charge of the Company, while N1 billion (One Billion Naira Only) was transferred in two tranches on the 25th May, 2015 from PAGMAT Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited, a company the EFFC said was not incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
The court further ordered that the forfeited sum be deposited in the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government.