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Tag: Patience Jonathan

  • Patience Jonathan faces fresh hurdles over $15.5m

    Patience Jonathan faces fresh hurdles over $15.5m

    Rivers blocks EFCC’s access to ex-First Lady’s, Diezani’s  title papers

    THE ASSETS UNDER PROBE

    Port Harcourt 
    •Former Customs Service officers mess
    •Two duplexes at 2/3 Bauchi Street
    •Landed property at Ambowei Street
    •Three Luxury apartments at Ambowei Street 
    •Grand View Hotel on Airport Road

    Yenagoa
    •Two marble duplexes at Otioko GRA  
    •Glass House on Sani Abacha Expressway
    •Akemfa Etie Plaza Melford Okilo  Road
    •Aridolf  Resort on Sani Abacha Expressway

    Detectives have stepped up the probe of former First Lady Mrs. Patience Jonathan by retrieving her service records from the Government of Bayelsa State.
    The retrieval of her records is part of the screening of her salary and emoluments as a retired permanent secretary to determine whether her earnings could match the 13 assets traced to her.
    Besides the assets, the former First Lady is laying claim to $15.5m in some domiciliary accounts.
    The anti-graft agency has written the Rivers State Ministry of Lands and Survey for details on some assets linked with the former First Lady and a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
    But officials have blocked access to the documents.
    Some of the officials may be investigated for obstructing justice, a source said last night.
    It was unclear yesterday whether or not the said officials were acting on orders.
    A source close to the investigation said there was no where in the records where the ex-First Lady earned foreign exchange as emoluments and estacodes amounting to over $15.5million she is claiming to own.
    An EFCC source said: “This agency has retrieved the original service records of the ex-First Lady from Bayelsa State. Preliminary analysis of her records revealed a lot of discrepancies including issues regarding special promotions given to her which were faulted even by the Office of the Head of Service.
    “More importantly, from her records, especially her pay packet of N700, 000, there is nowhere she earned as much as $1million not to talk of over $15million, which she is claiming ownership of.
    “We have to go through her records and pay slips to prove that the $15million in question was undeserved and should be seized by the court. All her official estacodes and emoluments were not up to the amount being claimed.
    “As far as we are concerned, she has questions to answer in line with Section 7 of the EFCC Act.”
    Section 7 of the EFCC Act says: “The commission has power to (a) cause any investigations to be conducted as to whether any person, corporate body or organisation has committed any offence under this Act or other law relating to economic and financial crimes.
    “(b) Cause investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the commission that the person’s lifestyle and extent of the properties are not justified by his source of income.”
    It was also discovered that although she retired on October 15, 2014, the voluntary retirement was approved on 12th May, 2015.
    But detectives are trying to analyse her pay slip to know if she received salaries for eight months after her notice of voluntary retirement.’
    “If she did receive salaries within the eight-month period without any refund, she might be liable for another offence. A letter acknowledging her voluntary retirement was specific that any extra salary after notice of retirement ought to be paid,” the source said.
    A 12th May, 2015 letter signed by Mrs. Biobelemoye Charles-Onyema, the Permanent Secretary of the Civil Service Commission, confirmed the acceptance of the retirement of the ex-First Lady.
    The letter from the Bayelsa State Civil Service Commission to the ex-First Lady said in part: “I am directed to refer to Establishment Circular No. 7/1999 of 5th October, 1999 and to inform you that the Civil Service Commission at a meeting held on 12th May, 2015 approved your voluntary retirement from the Bayelsa State Civil Service as a Permanent Secretary (Consolidated Salary with effect from 15th October 2014.
    “I am further directed to inform you to handover all government properties in your possession to the most senior director in your ministry and report to the Permanent Secretary, Establishment, Training and pensions Bureau, Governor’s Office, Yenagoa with your appointment papers and other relevant documents for processing of your retirement benefits.
    “Any salary earned after 15th October 2014 will be deducted from your gratuity.”
    Meanwhile, the anti-graft agency has written the Rivers State Ministry of Lands and Survey for details on some assets linked with the former First Lady in Port Harcourt.
    But the ministry’s officials were said to have blocked access to the relevant documents by the EFCC.
    Of 13 properties allegedly linked with the ex-First Lady, eight are said to be in Port Harcourt.
    The assets in Port Harcourt  are former Customs Service officers mess; two duplexes on 2/3 Bauchi Street; landed property with blocks at Ambowei Street; three Luxury apartments of four bedroom each at Ambowei Street;  and Grand View Hotel on Airport Road.
    The assets in Yenagoa include two marble duplexes at Otioko GRA by Isaac Boro Expressway;  Glass House on Sani Abacha Expressway, which is housing Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring  Board; Akemfa Etie Plaza by AP filling Station, Melford Okilo  Road; and Aridolf  Resort, Wellness and Spa on Sani Abacha Expressway.
    Another top EFCC source, who spoke in confidence, said: “We have officially written the Ministry of Lands and Survey for details on some of the assets of the ex-First Lady and a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke  in Port Harcourt but they have not been forthcoming.
    “Up till now, they have not made relevant documents available to the EFCC. It is a kind of blocking of access to these  land titles which are vital to our investigation. We don’t know whether or not they are acting on orders from above.
    “We are hopeful that the officials will cooperate with us. But it is certainly a punishable offence  to obstruct investigation by EFCC and other  anti-crime agencies.”

  • Frozen $15.5 m: Court adjourns Jonathan’s suit to Jan. 18, 2017

    Frozen $15.5 m: Court adjourns Jonathan’s suit to Jan. 18, 2017

    Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court Lagos, on Wednesday, further adjourned till Jan. 18, 2017, hearing in a suit by ex-first Lady, Patience Jonathan, seeking enforcement of her fundamental rights.

    Jonathan had instituted the fundamental rights suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), claiming the sum of 200 million dollars as damages for inconveniences suffered.

    In her suit, she also joined Skye bank Plc, and a former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Warampo Dudafa as respondents.

    Also joined in the suit are four companies namely: Pluto Property Ltd, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Ltd, Transocean company Ltd and Globus Integrated Service Ltd.

    When the case was called on Wednesday, counsel to Jonathan, Mr Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN) informed the court of a motion seeking to regularise his processes before the court.

    Justice Idris granted him leave to amend his processes, while the court also granted leave to the EFCC to amend it’s counter affidavit.

    The court consequently, fixed Jan. 18, 2017 for the continuation of hearing.

    Meanwhile, a similar suit before another judge, Justice Babs Kuewumi has also been fixed for hearing on Dec. 14.

    It will be recalled that Dudafa was charged alongside the four companies before Justice Kuewumi, on 15 counts of money laundering.

    Representatives of the four companies which the EFCC claimed were used by Dudafa to launder the said sum of money, had all pleaded guilty to the offences.

    The said $15.5 million, is the same sum which the former first lady, claims belongs to her as sole signatory to the accounts of the companies.

    In her suit, Jonathan is urging the court to issue an order discharging the freezing order, and restraining the EFCC and its agent from further placing a freezing order on the said accounts.

  • $15m: Patience Jonathan’s group not registered, SERAP tells court

    $15m: Patience Jonathan’s group not registered, SERAP tells court

    A Rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has urged the Federal High Court to “dismiss” a suit by former first lady Mrs. Dame Patience Jonathan’ with substantial cost.”

    Mrs. Jonathan and her group, Union of Niger Delta Youth Organisation for Equity, Justice and Good Governance, had accused SERAP in a suit dated October 6 of “using online, print and electronic media to publish to the public unfounded and malicious allegations that she stole $15 million (U.S.) and ought to be prosecuted.”

    But SERAP, in a preliminary objection dated October 27 and signed by its executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni, stated that “Patience Jonathan’s claims cannot be maintained because they are brought on her behalf by a group that is unknown to law.

    “Mrs. Jonathan’s group is not a registered organisation envisaged by law. This very point calls into question the legal capacity to file this suit against SERAP, and the jurisdiction of the court to entertain her suit.”

    When the case came up for hearing before Justice C.M.A Olatoregun on Friday, SERAP was represented by its lawyer Babatunde Ogala, former chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly’s Committee on Judiciary.

    SERAP’s preliminary objections read in part: “Since the process of court has not been used bona fide and properly, it is unnecessary to consider whether or not there is a genuine case on the merits. An abuse of court process is not the specie of sins called an irregularity. It is a much more fundamental vice which is deserving of the punishment of dismissal.”

  • Coalition to EFCC: let Patience Jonathan be

    Coalition to EFCC: let Patience Jonathan be

    A coalition of civil society organisations – The Integrity Friends For Truth And Peace Initiative – has protested what it called the “malicious prosecution” of Nigeria’s former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The group said it was dismayed by the EFCC’s “purported anti-corruption fight” and trial by media of the former First Lady on “cooked up” allegations of corruption.

    In a statement, it said: “The Integrity Group has and will continually support a genuine anti-corruption war subject to the rule of law, equity and good conscience based on international best practices and standards.

    ‘’Our findings show that Patience Jonathan as of right through the court, claims monies in her personal account in the name Patience Jonathan which was initially in a card bearing account under Pluto Properties Ltd including monies belonging to her late mother in Trans Ocean Properties and Seagate Properties Limited.’’

    It continued: “The money total a little below $10million all in Skye Bank which were opened by their former aide Mr. Waripamo Dudafa through these companies allegedly owned by him.

    ‘’Whereas Patience Jonathan had filled all relevant documents to harmonise all accounts to her personal name about two years ago with Skye Bank was debited from the three accounts to the tune of three hundred thousand dollars for this purpose, yet for sinister reasons that Skye Bank is yet to substantiate, it failed to completely regularise the said details and also failed to inform Patience Jonathan of a subsequent EFCC caveat freezing the account.

    ‘’For the records, no Nigerian under any law, including Patience Jonathan, is under any obligation to explain how he/she made his/her money.

    ‘’Thus no law in Nigeria limits the amount of money anybody should own. Also no law in Nigeria criminalises the ownership of money no matter the amount involved.”

  • Coalition to EFCC: let Patience Jonathan be

    A coalition of civil society organisations – The Integrity Friends For Truth And Peace Initiative – has protested what it called the “malicious prosecution” of Nigeria’s former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The group said it was dismayed by the EFCC’s “purported anti-corruption fight” and trial by media of the former First Lady on “cooked up” allegations of corruption.

    In a statement, it said: “The Integrity Group has and will continually support a genuine anti-corruption war subject to the rule of law, equity and good conscience based on international best practices and standards.

    ‘’Our findings show that Patience Jonathan as of right through the court, claims monies in her personal account in the name Patience Jonathan which was initially in a card bearing account under Pluto Properties Ltd including monies belonging to her late mother in Trans Ocean Properties and Seagate Properties Limited.’’

    It continued: “The money total a little below $10million all in Skye Bank which were opened by their former aide Mr. Waripamo Dudafa through these companies allegedly owned by him.

    ‘’Whereas Patience Jonathan had filled all relevant documents to harmonise all accounts to her personal name about two years ago with Skye Bank was debited from the three accounts to the tune of three hundred thousand dollars for this purpose, yet for sinister reasons that Skye Bank is yet to substantiate, it failed to completely regularise the said details and also failed to inform Patience Jonathan of a subsequent EFCC caveat freezing the account.

    ‘’For the records, no Nigerian under any law, including Patience Jonathan, is under any obligation to explain how he/she made his/her money.

    ‘’Thus no law in Nigeria limits the amount of money anybody should own. Also no law in Nigeria criminalises the ownership of money no matter the amount involved.”

  • Money laundering: Jonathan’s ex-aide loses bid to nullify guilty plea

    A former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamo Dudafa, on Friday lost his bid to nullify the guilty plea by four companies linked to Jonathan’s wife, Patience.

    Justice Babs Kuewumi dismissed the application because it was unmeritorious.

    The companies, on September 15, pleaded guilty to laundering $15,591,700 (about N5 billion) when they were arraigned.

    They are – Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited (represented by Friday Davis), Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited (represented by Agbor Baro), Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited (represented by Dioghowori Frederick) and Avalon Global Property Development Limited (represented by Taiwo Ebenezer).

    Mrs. Jonathan claimed the monies in the companies’ accounts were hers.

    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).

    Dudafa and Briggs, through their lawyers, later urged the court to set aside the guilty plea entered on the firms’ 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 lacks the 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.

  • $22.3m cash: CCB gets fresh request on ex-First Lady Patience

    $22.3m cash: CCB gets fresh request on ex-First Lady Patience

    Embattled ex-First Lady Patience Jonathan seems to have an hurdle to clear in her legal battle to reclaim the $22.3million in bank accounts linked to her.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has already placed restriction on the accounts in Skye Bank while she battles in court to have the restriction lifted.

    An application has now been filed at the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to establish whether she declared the seized cash as required by law at the exit of her husband in 2015.

    Abuja-based lawyer, Barrister Osuagwu Ugochukwu who filed the application wants the bureau to come clean on whether ex-President Goodluck Jonathan declared the money to which his wife is now laying claims   in his exit form in 2015.

    Ugochukwu in a September 1 letter to the Chairman of CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, said he was acting in the interest of the public and in the exercise of his rights pursuant to Sections 1 and 4 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011.

    His words “On May 19 2015, the CCB, in an advertorial by its Acting Secretary, Kolade Omoyola, in some newspapers had reminded ‘political office holders to declare their assets on assumption and vacation of office in accordance with Paragraph II of the 5th Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.’

    “The Code of Conduct Bureau has asked President Goodluck Jonathan, his Vice, and 42 Ministers in his cabinet to declare their assets.

    “The bureau reportedly issued the Completed Assets Declaration Forms to all concerned, with a 30-day deadline to return the completed forms before exiting office.

    “Usually every public servant declares what the spouse earns and must have acquired as property or asset in their Spouses (public servant) declaration forms.

    “This brings me to whether ex-president Goodluck Jonathan declared or completed his Exit Asset Declaration forms with the CCB.

    “Only recently, as reported by Vanguard newspapers, former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, wrote a letter to the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) explicating that the $31.4 million connected to the financial fraud leveled against Mr. Waripamo Dudafa by EFCC was for the payment of the medical bills she incurred in London in 2013.

    “Patience Jonathan claimed ownership of the $31.4 million in the affidavit before a Federal High Court in Lagos  September 2016.

    “The former first lady in her letter to the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu by her lawyers, Granville Abibo (SAN) and Co enjoined the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Skye Bank to lift the restriction placed on the accounts.

    “In the letter, Patience Jonathan admitted that the she is the sole signatory to the accounts and the accounts were card-based.

    “We note also that First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil Service. Governor Dickson had in July 2012, five months after his inauguration appointed Patience Jonathan, as one of the 17 new permanent secretaries in the state civil service.

    “The question that agitates me are: Whether this $31.5 million or $20 Million as being claimed by ex-President Jonathan’s wife was declared in May 2015 in President Jonathan Exit forms with the CCB?

    “Kindly avail me whether ex-President Jonathan did file his Asset Declaration Form with the Bureau upon exit from office in May 2015?

    “Did Dame Patience Jonathan declare her assets upon exit upon appointment as permanent secretary in Bayelsa State and upon her exit from same position?”

    A special investigation team to Port Harcourt (Rivers State) and Yenagoa (Bayelsa State), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had linked nine choice properties, two hotels and a plot of land under construction to the ex-First Lady.

    A report of the EFCC investigative team had implicated the former First Lady.

    The report of the investigative team said in part: “Based on the investigation so far carried out, it has revealed that the four fraudulent VISA Platinum USD Card accounts used by Mrs. Patience Goodluck Jonathan  has a cumulative balance of $14,029.881.79 which has been swept Post No Debit Card category.

    “Again, her personal account, different from the four fraudulent VISA Platinum USD Card accounts, bears the balance of $5,841,426.17.

  • Jonathan’s wife not above the law, says APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) said has said that former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was not above being investigated by anti corruption agencies in the country.
    It described as shameful the habit of those who are backing her claim of owing several millions of dollars without a visible means of income.
    Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Comrade Timi Frank said in a statement in Abuja that if Nigerians holding constitutionally recognized offices such as the President of the Senate can be investigated and currently undergoing prosecution, there was no reason why the former first lady whose office has no constitutional backing should not be investigated.
    Frank said even former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar was once investigated by the anti corruption agency, wondering why Nigerian youths should defend act of corruption for just a pot of soup.
    He described as shameful the threats coming from a Niger Delta group and the protest at Port Harcourt zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in support of the former first lady Mrs. Patience Jonathan, over the freezing of her dollar account containing about $31.4 million.
    He also described as baseless and empty the threat against the Federal Government by such protesting groups, saying it is high time people realise that the era of campaign is gone for now.

  • Patience Jonathan disowns militant group over attack threat

    Patience Jonathan disowns militant group over attack threat

    Embattled ex- First Lady Patience Jonathan has denied any link with the militant group, Niger Delta Peoples Professional Volunteer Force (NDPPVF), which threatened to attack the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) if she was ever arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The militant group, in a statement by one Parkinson George-Amabo, had described the ongoing probe of the accounts the former First Lady laid claims to as a criminal act, saying an attempt to arrest her would ignite actions that would target the NNPC head offices in Abuja.

    But a member of Mrs. Jonathan’s legal team, Timipa Jenkins Okponipere, in a telephone chat in Warri yesterday said the former president and his family had nothing to do with the threat, noting that the family believed in the rule of law and would rather pursue the ongoing situation legally.

    Okponipere who had earlier threatened a N5 billion suit against the EFCC at the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in the Gambia if the anti-graft commission failed to back off from freezing the former First Lady’s accounts in Skye Bank within 14 days, said NDPPVF was on its own as the former First Lady had never sought to use violence to get justice in her battle with the EFCC.

    He said: ‘’All I can tell you is that the Jonathans have nothing to do with violence; they don’t support violence, they don’t subscribe to violence so everybody was taken aback by that statement.

    ‘’Former President Jonathan is someone who believes in the rule of law, he believes that at the end of the day, by the grace of God, the matter will be resolved through the process of dialogue, through the process of the rule of law. I think that group was speaking for itself.

    “As far as we are concerned, they are on their own.’’

  • Banks to face trial for aiding corruption – EFCC

    Banks to face trial for aiding corruption – EFCC

    … ’Jonathan’s wife under investigation’

    Banks and their officials who helped in concealing stolen funds will soon have their day in court, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, said on Tuesday.

    He said it was unfortunate that some banks encouraged looting by creating an “enabling environment” for it.

    “The banking sector is creating a fertile ground for corruption,” the EFCC chairman said.

    Magu spoke in Lagos during an interactive session with the commission’s external lawyers and civil society organizations.

    He said it was as if the banks were telling looters: “Go and steal and I’ll hide it for you,” adding that must stop.

    “We’ll zoom in on the banks. We need to stop them from creating an enabling environment for corruption to thrive,” he said.

    Speaking with journalists on whether the commission would invite wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, for questioning over the $15,591,700 she claims belongs to her, Magu said investigation was ongoing.

    “We are on it. You see, we work for the long-term. We must complete out preliminary investigations before we come out,” he said.

    Magu told the forum that EFCC sometimes spends up to nine months investigating a case before inviting suspects for questioning, adding that no one who has stolen public funds would be spared.

    “We’ll not spare anybody. We can’t protect anyone from answering to the people. Determination is key. I believe we’ll go a long way, and that our tomorrow will be better than our today,” he said.

    The EFCC chairman said the commission did not characterize all lawyers as “rogues,”saying the statement was misinterpreted.