On Thursday, the Federal High Court in Lagos issued an order for the temporary seizure of $2.04 million and seven properties linked to Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The ruling was made by Justice Akintayo Aluko in response to a request by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which is looking into possible fraud related to Emefiele.
Prime real estate in Lagos’ Lekki and Ikoyi neighbourhoods as well as a sizable industrial complex in Agbor, Delta State, are among the properties under question.
According to Justice Aluko, the assets thought to represent the profits of illegal activity needed to be temporarily forfeited in order to stop them from being lost.
“The properties listed in this application are reasonably suspected to have been acquired through proceeds of unlawful activities,” he said.
The listed properties consist of two fully detached duplexes located at 17b Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos; an industrial complex on 22 plots in Agbor, Delta State; eight apartments on Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi; a four-bedroom duplex at 12a Probyn Road, Ikoyi; and a 1,919.592 sqm undeveloped land on Oyinkan Abayomi Drive (formerly Queens Drive) in Ikoyi.
The court also mandated the temporary confiscation of two share certificates belonging to Queensdorf Global Fund Limited Trust, a business purportedly associated with Emefiele, in addition to the properties.
Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), the lawyer for the EFCC, claimed that the assets were acquired through fraudulent means when he filed the application for the orders in a lawsuit with the file number FHC/L/MISC/500/24.
“The money and properties in question are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities. We urge the court to grant this application to prevent any further dissipation of these assets,” Oyedepo said.
According to Oyedepo, Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006, as well as Section 44 (2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, gave the court the authority to impose the temporary forfeiture order.
According to court records detailing the EFCC’s investigation, Emefiele allegedly negotiated payments in exchange for foreign exchange allocations to businesses that required foreign currency for valid business objectives.
“These properties were acquired through Shell companies, all linked to Emefiele, with the sole purpose of laundering money,” stated Idi Musa, an EFCC investigator, in his evidence.
Musa also stated that the EFCC had found important evidence during searches, such as corporate seals and title certificates.
He said, “Sometime in 2018, one Olusola Bodunde acquired a parcel of land located at Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos and partnered with one Idowu Sharafa to develop three units of 5 bedroom duplexes with attached BQ on the land.
“Sometime in 2020, Omeke approached Bodunde and subsequently paid the total sum of N460, 000, 000, for two of the three developed duplexes, purchased in the name of Amrash Ventures Limited, all on behalf and on the instructions of Godwin Emefiele.
“That the sum of $2,045,000m and the shares certificate, were also recovered in the office of Mr. Collins Ifeanyi Omeke .
“Upon investigation, we discovered that Mr. Omeke purchased and perfected the title documents for several properties on behalf of Mr. Emefiele.
“Most of the fraudulently earned funds were invested in acquiring these properties, which are now sought to be forfeited to the Federal Government.”
Following the issuance of an interim forfeiture order, Justice Aluko gave the EFCC 14 days to publish the order in a national newspaper and gave anyone with a claim to the funds or assets to appear in court and provide justification for why they shouldn’t be permanently forfeited to the federal government.
A new hearing in this case has been scheduled for September 5, 2024.
The anti-graft agency has received a number of forfeiture orders against Emefiele, who is accused of wrongdoing, and this Thursday’s forfeiture is the most recent.
The $1.4 million associated with the troubled former head of the apex bank was ordered to be forfeited on May 29 by the same Federal High Court in Lagos.
Previously, on May 23, the EFCC was able to secure forfeiture orders on properties connected to Emefiele worth $4.7 million and N830 million.
A different permanent forfeiture order from Emefiele was also in place for certain properties valued at N12.18 billion.
