13th April, 2017
Akin Kuponiyi
A Federal High Court sitting in in Lagos on Thursday ordered temporary forfeiture of the sums of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23, 218,000 recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from an apartment in Ikoyi area of Lagos state on Wednesday.
The court, in a ruling on Thursday afternoon by Justice Muslim Hassan, ordered that the funds be temporary forfeited to the Federal Government.
It adjourned till May 5, 2017 for anyone interested in the funds to show up and give reason why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
The judge made the forfeiture order shortly after hearing an ex parte application by an EFCC counsel, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo.
The EFCC had on Wednesday evening raided an apartment at Flat 7B, No. 13, Osborne Road, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, and recovered the sums of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 kept in iron cabinets and “Ghana must go” sacks.
Moving the ex parte application for the interim forfeiture of the funds, Oyedepo told the court that no one had come forward to claim it, adding that the staff of AM Facilities managing the apartment where the huge sums of money were found could not provide the anti-graft agency with information on the possible owner of the money.
He urged the judge to exercise the power conferred on him by Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other related Offences Act to order the interim forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government.
“We received an intelligence report that No.16, Osborne Road, Osborne Towers, Flat 7B had in it various sums of money that we are seeking to forfeit.
“The intelligence was acted upon and on getting there, we executed Exhibit EFCC1, which is a search warrant. As God would have it, sir, we were able to recover $43, 449,947; still in the same flat, we also recovered £27,800. That was not all, we were also able to recover N23,218,000.
“For security reasons and because of the volume, we did not want to bring the money before My Lord but we have registered it as an exhibit with the exhibit keeper and the evidence is contained in Exhibit EFCC 04.
“Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other fraud related Offences Act empowered My Lord, where a property is found to be an unclaimed property or where a property is found to be proceeds of an unlawful activity, to forfeit such property in the interim,” Oyedepo said.
He pointed the judge’s attention to a portion of the court papers where the commission had stated under oath that “no one had approached the commission to claim the said money with reasonable evidence confirming the genuiness of the origin of the money that we are seeking to forfeit in the interim.”
“I, therefore, humbly and most respectfully urge My Lord to forfeit this money to the Federal Government pending when anyone who has the mind come and claim the money,” the lawyer added.
After listening to him, Justice Hassan, in a short ruling, said in view of the facts placed before him, he was “mindful of granting the interim reliefs sought,” by the EFCC.
He also granted the anti-graft agency’s prayer to advertise or publish the interim forfeiture order in any national newspaper for any concerned party to see it.
He adjourned till May 5, 2017 for such a person to come before him to give reasons why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.