Dame Patience looks set to lose $8.4m after Supreme Court rules that EFCC was right to seize it

FORMER first lady Dame Patience Jonathan suffered a major setback that could result in her forfeiting $8.4m to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after Nigeria's Supreme Court upheld a judgement on a temporary seizure.

 

This is the third legal defeat Dame Jonathan, the wife of former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan has suffered over the last year. On her case for the last four years, the EFCC said its investigation revealed that Dame Jonathan opened the Skye Bank account on February 7, 2013 and used it to warehouse the proceeds of crime.

 

In November last year, the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, upheld the decision of the Federal High Court in Lagos, which ordered the interim forfeiture of money found in Dame Patience Jonathan’s account. In a lead judgment by Justice Mojeed Owoade, the court threw out the ex-president’s wife’s appeal, challenging the forfeiture of the funds to the federal government.

 

This morning, the Supreme Court ruled on the appeal filed by Dame Jonathan challenging the powers of the EFCC to seize the cash, claiming she has not been convicted of any offence. In its judgment, the five-man panel unanimously held that the appeal filed by Dame Jonathan, challenging the interim forfeiture, was without merit.

 

Supreme Court judges thus upheld the order of temporary forfeiture made by a Federal High Court in Lagos. Also, the court ordered Dame  Jonathan to go before the Federal High Court to justify her ownership of the money to prevent its permanent forfeiture to the federal government.

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