Former First Lady Patience Jonathan was stranded yesterday following a botched attempt to cash part of her $5.8m deposit, which was unfrozen by a court last week.
Mrs. Jonathan was blocked from having access to her account by a stay of execution of the court’s order which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) obtained.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court in Lagos last Thursday issued an order unfreezing Mrs Jonathan’s $5.8million in the Skye Bank.
The EFCC in November 2016 asked the court for an order freezing the account because it was suspected to harbour proceeds of crime.
The judge obliged in December, 2016.
Also affected by the said order were the accounts of five companies holding N7.4 billion and the account of Esther Oba holding $429,381.87.
The ex-First Lady went to Maitama branch of Skye Bank to withdraw from her account. But she was denied access because of a pending appeal by the EFCC and an application for a stay of execution, The Nation learnt.
A source in the bank said: “The former First Lady came to our branch to collect cash from her unfrozen account but we could not honour her.
“She came at about 11am and left some minutes after 4pm. She had audience with an Executive Director of our bank.
“Her entry created a scene because she said the cash was her entitlement but we insisted that the account was still in dispute because of a pending appeal.
“There is still an application for a stay of execution. We do not want to engage in an act of subjudice.
A source in EFCC said: “We received intelligence report that the ex-First Lady went to Skye Bank Plc to access her account but the bank disallowed her because of a pending appeal.
“We are determined to pursue this matter to a logical conclusion. Our position is that the account should remain frozen in line with our mandate.
“Considering our findings, we can safely conclude that a prima facie case of conspiracy to retain proceeds of unlawful activities, retention of the proceeds of unlawful activities, money laundering, contrary to Section 15(3) and 18(a) of the Money Laundering ( Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012 and forgery, contrary to Section 1(2) (c) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap M17, Laws of the Federation, 2004 have been established against the ex-First Lady and others.”
Tag: Jonathan’s wife
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Jonathan’s wife fails to draw from $5.8m deposit
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Court: no counter-order on Jonathan’s wife’s $15.5m
THE Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday refused to make a counter-order on the forfeiture of the $15.5 million allegedly belonging to wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience.
Justice Mohammed Idris declined a request by the former First Lady’s lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), to restrain Justice Babs Kuewumi from taken a further step with regards to the money.
Mrs. Jonathan said four of her frozen accounts with Skye Bank in the name of four companies have a balance of $15,591,700 (about N5 billion) belonging to her.
But, the companies, on September 15, pleaded guilty to laundering the money when they were arraigned before Justice Kuewumi.
The judge, however, refused to order its forfeiture to the Federal Government until the trial of the others named in the charge was concluded.
The companies are: Pluto Property and Investment Company Ltd (represented by Friday Davis), Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Ltd (represented by Agbor Baro), Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Ltd (represented by Dioghowori Frederick) and Avalon Global Property Development Ltd (represented by Taiwo Ebenezer).
EFCC arraigned them with a former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to President Jonathan, Waripamo Dudafa, a lawyer, Amajuoyi Briggs and a banker, Adedamola Bolodeoku.
Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku pleaded not guilty to the 17-count charge.
Mrs. Jonathan, in a separate suit against EFCC and Skye Bank, before Justice Idris, is seeking an order to de-freeze the accounts and release her money.
Yesterday, her lawyer Adedipe urged Justice Idris to stop Justice Kuewumi from making any order forfeiting the $15.591 million pending the determination of her application for interlocutory injunction.
Adedipe urged the court to direct the EFCC not to tamper with the “res” (subject matter) of the case pending the determination of the interlocutory application.
But, EFCC’s Rotimi Oyedepo, opposed the application, saying: “We pray the court to dismiss the application with a wave of hand. There is an order of the court that have convicted the 4th-7th defendants for warehousing the proceeds of crime.”
According to him, it will be “extremely” prejudicial to the earlier order made by Justice Kuewumi in the criminal case.
Justice Idris refused to grant Adedipe’s oral application and adjourned till December 7 for hearing. -
$175m found in Jonathan’s wife’s firm’s bank account
EFCC in manhunt
for two suspectsTHE DEPOSITS
• 21/2/2014 $46,500,000
• 24/2/2014 $31,000,000
• 31/3/2015 $49,250,000
• 1/4/ 2015 $49,000,000
TOTAL: $175,750,000Where is the $175,750,000 deposited in an account linked to former First lady Patience Jonathan?
This is the question the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is battling to answer.
The deposits were found in the account of Pluto Property and Investment Limited, one of the firms linked to Mrs. Jonathan.
The EFCC has launched a manhunt for two suspects, Toru Wonyeng Ibuomo and Friday Davies, linked to the curious deposits in four tranches within 14 months — between February 21, 2014 and April 1, 2015.
The anti-graft agency is probing how the cash was withdrawn from the domiciliary account with Skye Bank Plc without any trace of where it was diverted to.
The deposits are different from the $15.5million over which the ex-First Lady sued the EFCC, which placed No Debit Order on four accounts.
But the company is one of the four convicted on November 2 for laundering the $15.5million, which Mrs. Jonathan insists belongs to her.
The companies convicted by Justice Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court are Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Seagate Property Development & Investment Co. Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Avalon Global Property Development Company Limited.
Barely two weeks after the conviction of the companies, the EFCC uncovered another $175, 750,000 deposits in the account of Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited.
The cash has, however, vanished from the bank.
EFCC detectives discovered that the account was opened on November 30, 2013 by Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited with number 2110002238.
The company was registered on January 29, 2013 with RC 1092722. The “strange” deposits came within 14 months.
The deposits are:
- 21/2/2014—$46,500,000
- 24/2/2014—$31,000,000
- 31/3/2015—$49,250,000
- 1/4/ 2015—$49,000,000
“The EFCC is probing how the deposits hit the company’s account barely two years after it was registered and without executing any major contract. We are suspecting that this is another slush account where government funds were diverted to,” a source close to the investigation told The Nation.
The source said: “All the deposits were in cash, a development which showed that it was a pure case of money laundering.
“On the 21st of February, the account was reported to have recorded a cash deposit of $46,500,000 by the General Manager of Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited , Toru Wonyeng Ibuomo.
“Three days after(24th of February, 2014), another cash deposit of $31,000,000 was made by the same General Manager.
“Friday Davies made a cash deposit of $49,250,000 into the same account. The last tranche of $49,000,000 was deposited by Davies on Apri 1, 2015.”
The source, who pleaded not to be named because of what he described as the “sensitivity” of the probe, claimed that the EFCC was on the trail of Ibuomo and Davies.
The source added: “We need the two depositors to assist in the ongoing investigation of the payments into the affected account.
“It is more curious when the bank details did not show evidence of withdrawals. Yet the whereabouts of the cash was unknown. We hope it is not a private banking arrangement to hide slush funds.”
The source confirmed that the EFCC would probe the likely roles of the former First Lady in operating the account of Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited.
“In a matter before the Federal High Court, the ex-First Lady admitted that one of her domiciliary accounts was bearing Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited.
“We are investigating this $175.750million deposits and the extent of the involvement or relationship of the ex-First Lady with the funds. This is a fresh case; it has nothing to do with the $15.5million frozen by the EFCC.”
In an affidavit filed before the Federal High Court in Lagos and deposed to by Sammie Somiari, a lawyer, on behalf of Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the deponent – claimed that the ex-First Lady had been using ATM credit cards of four companies.
Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Seagate Property Development & Investment Co. Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Development Company Limited and Globus Integrated Service Limited.
The ex-First Lady alleged that the EFCC placed a “No Debit Order” on the four accounts in July in the course of probing Waripamo Dudafa, a former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Somiari claimed that Dudafa helped Mrs Jonathan to open the four accounts which the EFCC froze.
Somiari added “that Mrs Jonathan complained about this to Honourable Dudafa, who at her prompting and instance promised to effect the change of the said accounts to the applicant’s name; and to effect this change, Honourable Dudafa brought the said bank manager, Mr. Dipo Oshodi, who claimed to have effected the changes. This was about April 2014.
“The bank official, Mr. Dipo Oshodi, as it would appear, did not effect or reflect the instruction of the applicant to change the said accounts to her name(s) despite repeated requests.
”However, since 2010 up until 2014 and thereafter, Mrs Jonathan had been using the cards on the said accounts and operating the said accounts without let or hindrance. Even in May, June and July 2016, the former First Lady travelled overseas for medical treatment and was using the said credit cards abroad up until July 7, 2016 or thereabouts when the cards stopped functioning.”
In the suit, Mrs. Jonathan urged the court to compel the EFCC to immediately vacate the “No Debit Order” placed on her accounts.
On November 2, Justice Babs Kuewumi convicted the four companies of laundering the $15.5m.
The companies had on September 15, 2016 pleaded guilty to laundering the money when they were arraigned by the EFCC along with Dudafa, a lawyer, Amajuoyi Briggs; and a banker, Adedamola Bolodeoku.
But Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku pleaded not guilty.
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Jonathan’s ex-aide alleges plot by EFCC to implicate Jonathan’s wife
THE embattled Senior Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of illegally detaining him for his refusal to incriminate former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.
Dudafa made the allegation in a November 4 petition to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), wherein he also accused the EFCC of deliberately keeping him in detention despite his fulfilling the bail conditions set by the Federal High Court, Lagos.
The commission arraigned Dudafa on June 15, before Justice M.B. Idris on a 23-count charge bordering on the laundering of over N1. 67 billion and he is also standing trial before Justice Babs Kuewumi for other alleged offences.
But in the petition, Dudafa, who was granted N500million bail by both justices, said “despite meeting all the Herculean bail conditions as ordered by the two courts, the commission has failed to fulfil its part, by verifying all the title documents of my sureties”.
He accused the anti-graft agency of punishing him for his loyalty to former President Goodluck Jonathan and his family.
“Various attempts by my lawyer to ensure that the commission deposits my international travel passport with the court since I was admitted to bail have proved abortive, irrespective of the fact that the two courts at various sittings compelled and ordered it to release the said passport.
“The EFCC has also refused blatantly to verify all the title documents provided by my sureties at the Land Registry for over two months in relation to the bail conditions granted me by Justice Babs Kuewumi of a Lagos Federal High Court.
“From the above, it has become obvious that the EFCC is desperate to keep me perpetually in prison with the ultimate aim of killing me in prison despite the fact that my deteriorating state of health has been made known to the EFCC through a medical report dated August 29, 2016, and issued by the Nigerian Prison Service, Ikoyi, Lagos,” Dudafa said.
He appealed to the commission’s chairman “to use his good offices to intervene speedily in my predicament in the hands of the EFCC, as it is clear case of arbitrary abuse of power, flagrant disregard to court order and breach of my fundamental rights as a citizen of Nigeria”.
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Court to rule on Jonathan’s wife’s $15.5m October 7
A former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamo Dudafa, yesterday urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to nullify the guilty plea by four companies linked to Jonathan’s wife, Patience.
The companies on September 15 pleaded guilty to laundering $15,591,700 (about N5billion) when they were arraigned.
They are: Pluto Property and Investment Company Ltd (represented by Friday Davis), Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Ltd (represented by Agbor Baro), Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Ltd (represented by Dioghowori Frederick) and Avalon Global Property Development Ltd (represented by Taiwo Ebenezer).
The companies, along with a lawyer Amajuoyi Briggs and a banker, Adedamola Bolodeoku, were arraigned before Justice Babs Kuewumi.
Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku, however, pleaded not guilty to a 17-count charge brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Yesterday, Dudafa and Briggs, through their lawyers, urged the court to set aside the guilty plea entered on the firm’ behalf by their representatives.
They urged the court to replace the guilty plea and with a “not-guilty” plea for the companies.
They also contended that the court lacked jurisdiction to accept the companies’ guilty plea.
The defendants said those who pleaded guilty for the companies did not exhibit any letter authorising them to do so by the firms’ board.
They argued that the prosecution failed to comply with Section 477(3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 which specifies that such a representative must have authorisation.
Dudafa’s lawyer, Gbenga Oyewole, said the four representatives had earlier made statements to both the EFCC and the court denying any connection with the companies and alleging that their names and signatures were forged.
Besides, he said Mrs Jonathan had sued EFCC claiming ownership of the funds in the companies’ accounts, adding that neither the Federal Government not any state had stated that the funds were stolen from them.
According to him, the same representatives had earlier denied any link to the companies when they were first charged before Justice Abdulazeez Anka, who sat during the vacation.
He said Justice Anka replaced their guilty plea with “not guilty” after their denial.
“The purported representatives did not produce a statement of appointment by the companies,” Oyewole argued.
But, EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, urged the court to refuse the applications.
He said there was evidence at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) that Davies, Baro, Fredrick and Ebenezer were the companies’ directors.
Oyedepo said the four also had the mandate to operate the Skye Bank accounts where the $15.5million is.
Besides, he said the companies representatives were of sound mind and made a deliberate decision to plead guilty.
“The prima facie evidence before Your Lordship is that those who appeared before Your Lordship are the directors of the fourth to seventh defendants (the companies).
EFCC said the accused persons conspired on November 13, 2013 in Lagos to launder $15,591,700.
It said the defendants “reasonably ought to have known that the funds form part of the proceeds of an unlawful act”.
Seagate Property, Dudafa, Bolodeoku and Sompre Omiebi (said to be at large) were accused of indirectly retaining $1,094,500 through a Skye Bank Plc account (2110002207) between November 14 and 19, 2013. EFCC said the money “forms part of an unlawful act to wit: stealing.”
They were also accused of indirectly retaining $1,200,000 through the Skye Bank account between January 21 and December 19, 2014; as well as $1,349,700 through the same account between March 31 and May 20, 2015, among others.
Justice Kuewunmi adjourned until October 7 for ruling.
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Why my husband should be re-elected, by Jonathan’s wife
First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, yesterday gave reasons President Goodluck Jonathan should be re-elected for a second term in the March 28 election.
Mrs Jonathan, who was in Ikom, Cross River State, in continuation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nationwide women’s rally to solicit votes for her husband, said the President had performed well to deserve a second term in office.
Speaking after inaugurating the 6,000-seat ultra-modern Ikom Township Stadium, Mrs Jonathan said: “I came to thank you for keeping to your promise in 2011 to vote for my husband. I want to appeal to you to you to repeat the same thing in the March 28 presidential election.”
The First Lady said her husband, during his first tenure, impacted positively on the people, especially women.
She recalled that in 2011, her husband promised to give women 35 per cent of Federal appointments, in line with the Affirmative Action.
Mrs Jonathan said the President fulfilled his promise through political and elective offices.
She said: “Now, we are in 2015, and he will do more for the nation and women in particular.”
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Security agencies probe threats against Jonathan’s wife
Security agencies have launched investigations to unmask the youths behind repeated threats to attack the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.
Two youth groups, under the aegis of the Bayelsa Youth Vanguard (BYV) and the Mangrove Boys of Bayelsa (MBB), in different statements in Abuja and Yenagoa barred the First Lady from attending a Presidential rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Yenagoa on February 5.
The youth, who accused Mrs. Jonathan of instigating political crisis in the state and working against the Governor Seriake Dickson, vowed to embarrass and disgrace her at the rally.
But it was gathered on Wednesday that the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) had begun investigation to track persons issuing the threats.
A security source, who pleaded anonymity, said the headquarters of the two security agencies were taking the matter seriously.
“They have started their investigations from Abuja and very soon they will establish the veracity of the threats”, he said.
Also Bayelsa State Government for the umpteenth time condemned the threats emanating from the youths in very strong terms.
A Government House statement signed by Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson described the reports as the handiwork of the opposition.
He referred to the groups as faceless and said they only exist on the pages of newspapers and should not be taken serious.
The statement, however, reassured the First Lady and other Nigerians expected to attend the proposed grand rally of their safety.
It said the state government and the various security agencies were on the alert to deal decisively with any acts of lawlessness, brigandage and mischief.
The government warned that any individual or group found to have perpetrated such acts, whether before, during or after the rally, would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
“The government will not relent in the performance of its duties by ensuring the provision of adequate security as well as the protection of the life and property of all residents of the state and would do exactly same, even on February 5, 2015.
“The government reassure the First Lady, every member of her delegation of their safety and urged them to disregard the reports”.