The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) has told the Federal High Court in Lagos
that former First Lady Patience Jonathan could
not have genuinely earned the $15.5million which
she claims ownership of.
In its defence to her suit challenging the freezing
of her accounts, the commission argued that Mrs
Jonathan does not run any business from which
she could have earned such huge sums.
EFCC said its investigations showed that the
money was allegedly stolen from the Federal
Government and its agencies, and that it does not
belong to the former First Lady.
“There is no way the plaintiff (Mrs Jonathan)
could have genuinely earned the monies. She is
the wife of the former president, a civil servant
and a retired permanent secretary in Bayelsa
State.
“She does not run any profit and interest yielding
business venture to generate such money.
“Investigation conducted by the first defendant
(EFCC) revealed that the plaintiff is not the owner
of the funds in the accounts of the third to fifth
defendants (companies), which funds were
discovered to be proceeds of fraudulent activities
of Waripamo-Owei Emmanuel Dudafa,” EFCC
said.
Mrs Jonathan sued the EFCC, Skye Bank Plc and
three companies – Pluto Property and Investment
Company Ltd, Seagate Property Development and
Investment Company Ltd and Trans Ocean
Property and Investment Company Ltd.
She is praying for an order restraining the
defendants from tampering with her funds in the
companies’ accounts domiciled in Skye Bank.
She asked for an order of interlocutory injunction
restraining the EFCC from transferring the funds
to the Federal Government’s Treasury Single
Account (TSA).
Mrs Jonanthan said the funds in the companies’
accounts belonged to her, but she had been
unable to operate the account after EFCC placed
a “no debit order” on the accounts.
The former first lady said representatives of the
companies, who pleaded guilty to laundering the
money, were unknown to her; nor were they
authorised to represent them.
“The plaintiff/applicant is the lawful owner of her
hard earned funds,” she said, adding that her
ownership of the money has not been
controverted by a third party.
Mrs Jonathan said she sought the assistance of
Dudafa, former Special Adviser on Domestic
Affairs to ex-President Jonathan, to open some
accounts in her name.
She said she was issued with four ATM cards
after the accounts were opened.
According to her, she protested the fact that three
of the four accounts bore the names of companies
she had no connection with.
The bank, she said, promised to rectify the issue.
She continued to operate the accounts pending
when changes would be effected, according to the
former First Lady.
Mrs Jonathan said she went abroad in July 2016
for a medical check-up and discovered that she
could not make payments from the accounts due
to the “no debit order”.
The former First Lady, in her written address,
accused EFCC making moves to take her money
from her through an order of forfeiture.
She said the moves included the “procurement of
some unknown persons who pleaded guilty to a
charge and were convicted on November 2,
2016.”
In urging the court to lift the “no-debit order” and
grant her access to her accounts, Mrs Jonathan
said she “needs her money to able to cater to her
health.”
But, EFCC, in its statement of defence, said its
investigations revealed that between 2013 and
2015, “huge sums of money were stolen from the
Federal Government of Nigeria and its agencies.”
The agencies, it said, were the Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and
the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA),
“etc”.
EFCC said some of the funds “were converted to
dollars and converted to the use of Dudafa”.
The commission said between February 21, 2014
and April 19, 2016, Pluto Property “fraudulently
received and retained” $3,096,377.38.
The sum, EFCC said, was deposited by State
House domestic stewards, Festus Iyoha and Peter
Arivin, “using fictitious names on the instruction
of Dudafa.”
The commission said between November 14, 2013
and June 27, 2016, Seagate Properties received
$3,624,998.78; while Trans Ocean received
$3,765,711.87, “which are suspected to be
proceeds of crime.”
Another company, Globus Integrated Services
Limited, was said to have received “a whopping
sum of $5,119,021.45” in its account.
EFCC said after it charged the companies, their
representatives pleaded guilty to retaining
$15,591,700.
It insisted that after analysing the companies’
accounts, “it is crystal clear that the plaintiff was
neither a director nor a shareholder”.
The commission said it was Dudafa who allegedly
procured the domestic stewards in the State
House Abuja to deposit the monies “in an attempt
to disguise the proceeds of crime using fictitious
names”.
EFCC said it obtained a valid court order to freeze
the accounts, and that it did not need to inform
Mrs Jonathan before doing so “as the funds in
the said accounts do not belong to her”.
It added that the firmer First Lady was not
entitled to any reliefs, and that her case “is
frivolous, spurious, speculative, vexatious and an
abuse of court process and should be dismissed
with substantial cost.”
Justice Mohammed Idris had ordered parties to
file pleadings in the case, indicating that
witnesses, including Mrs Jonathan, may testify to
justify the money’s ownership.
The case will be heard on January 19.
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