The Supreme Court has ruled that the interim forfeiture of the sum of $8.4 million linked to Patience Jonathan, a former first lady, by the Federal Government remains justified.
A five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Dattijo Muhammad reached the unanimous decision at a hearing of the appeal brought before it by companies associated to Patience, the wife of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Jonathan had approached the Supreme Court to appeal the earlier judgement of the Federal High Court, Lagos division, which ordered the temporary forfeiture following an ex-parte motion filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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Delivering the lead judgement, Justice Kumai Aka’ahs declared that the panel of justices upheld the initial judgement, as well as that of the Court of Appeal sitting also in Lagos.
The justice ruled that the appellant must return to the Federal High Court and make a convincing argument on why the said funds should not remain in the custody of the government.
The panel also struck out her prayer to discard the provisions of Section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud Act and other Fraud related offences Act, which was relied on by the Federal High Court to issue the order of interim forfeiture.
Justice Aka’ahs ruled: “I do not find any reason to interfere with the decision of the lower court.
“Appellant is to go back to the trial court (the Federal High Court) to show cause why the interim order should not be made permanent.”
Read Also: EFCC Wants Interim Forfeiture Of Patience Jonathan’s $8.4m Affirmed
Other members of the five-man panel were Justices John Okoro, Eko, and Sidi Bage.
The EFCC had, last year, approached the Federal High Court in Lagos with an ex parte application seeking the forfeiture of the sum of $8,435,788.84 and other various sums in various bank accounts linked to the wife of the former president.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of the Federal High Court in Lagos had, on April 20, 2018, granted the ex parte order sought by the anti-graft agency.
Instead of complying with the judgement to present herself physically before the initial trial court to explain why the seized funds should not remain permanently in the custody of the Federal Government, Jonathan headed to the Court of Appeal in Lagos to file an appeal.
However, the appellate court also struck out her appeal.
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