A former first lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan may be in for another quizzing as the EFCC makes new findings.
Dame Patience Jonathan
Former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan appears to have more
explanation to make to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) besides the $19 million just frozen in her accounts.
Mrs. Jonathan has just been linked with five choice properties
including a N5billion hotel in Abuja, The Nation gathered yesterday.
The EFCC is currently studying documents on how the Abuja hotel (names withheld) was built.
It has also dispatched a team of investigators to Yenagoa, Bayelsa
State and Port Harcourt, Rivers State for the purpose of establishing
the ownership of four properties in the two cities.
The anti-graft agency is likely to confiscate the five properties once it is able to confirm that they belong to Mrs. Jonathan.
One of the pieces of evidence the EFCC has in its possession in its
probe of the ex-First Lady is her cumulative pay and perks as a civil
servant in Bayelsa State where she rose to the post of Permanent
Secretary.
Sources said the pay details are far below the $31million which the ex-First Lady claimed as her legitimately earned money.
The EFCC is insisting that Mrs. Jonathan must account for how she
came about the cash wired into the five accounts to which she is a
signatory or forfeit it to the Federal Government.
One of the sources familiar with the probe said the money used in
acquiring the properties under investigation appears to be gratification
to Mrs. Jonathan when her husband was in power.
The source said: “Based on intelligence report, we have
isolated five properties allegedly identified with the ex-First Lady.
These properties include a N5billion hotel in Abuja and four others in
Yenagoa and Port Harcourt.
“A special team has gone to verify all these assets in the
affected areas including the contractors engaged, the mode of payment to
them, relevant land registration documents, and associates used as
fronts.
“In the next few days, we will start questioning all those
involved in the acquisition or building of the assets. We are lucky that
this investigation has a lot of e-transaction and computerization
components. There is no hiding place for anyone involved.
“If at the end of the day the five assets belong to the
ex-First Lady, we will approach the court to place all these assets
under Interim Assets Forfeiture in line with Sections 28 and 34 of the
EFCC (Establishment Act) 2004 and Section 13(1) of the Federal High
Court Act, 2004.”
Section 28 of the EFCC Act stipulates that: “Where a person is
arrested for an offence under this Act, the Commission shall immediately
trace and attach all the assets and properties of the person acquired
as a result of such economic or financial crime and shall thereafter
cause to be obtained an interim attachment order from the Court.”
Section 13 of the Federal High Court Act reads in part: “The
Court may grant an injunction or appoint a receiver by an interlocutory
order in all cases in which it appears to the Court to be just or
convenient so to do.
“Any such order may be made either unconditionally or on such terms and conditions as the Court thinks just.”
Responding to a question, the source said: “If our
investigation reveals that the assets are not owned by Mrs. Patience
Jonathan, we will return them to their legitimate owners.”
The Nation also gathered that the EFCC is not about to defreeze Mrs. Jonathan’s accounts under investigation.
“We have retrieved documents on the pay package and monetized
perks of Mrs. Patience Jonathan when she was a Permanent Secretary in
the government of Bayelsa State. Her total emoluments do not tally with
the funds remitted into the five accounts,” an EFCC source said.
“She owes us a duty to explain how she came about these funds.
Our investigation showed that the funds came from gratifications; it is
left to her to prove otherwise.
“The good thing is that the ex-First Lady was the one who sued
EFCC demanding the release of her $31million. She has a duty as a former
public officer to explain how she earned the funds. Did she declare
these funds in her Assets Declaration Form as a Permanent Secretary?
“We are happy that the case is in court and the onus is on her
to prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that she is the owner of the funds.
If we had initiated the action, some people by now will be accusing EFCC
of witch-hunt.
“But she went to court to exercise her rights under the law.
The same law demands that you must seek equity with clean hands. I think
the press should take more than a passing interest in what is going on
in the court.”
The anti-graft agency claimed last week that it has established a
prima facie case of money laundering against the ex-First Lady and 10
others.
The 11 suspects may face trial for money laundering if the recommendation of the investigative team is upheld.
The EFCC declared that “preliminary investigation has also indicted Mrs. Patience Jonathan.”
The other 10 suspects indicted by the investigative team are a
former Senior Special Assistant ( Domestic / Household and Social Events
to the former President), Dr. Dudafa Waripamo-Owei Emmanuel; Damola
Bolodeoku; Dipo Oshodi; Theodora Varinik; Pluto Property and Investment
Company Limited; Seagate Property Development and Investment Limited;
Globus Integrated Services Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment
Company Limited and Skye Bank Plc. The report said in part: “Based on
the investigation so far carried out, it has revealed that the four
fraudulent VISA Platinum USD Card accounts used by Mrs. Patience
Goodluck Jonathan has a cumulative balance of $14,029.881.79 which has
been swept Post No Debit Card category.
“Again, her personal account, different from the four
fraudulent VISA Platinum USD Card accounts, bears the balance of
$5,841,426.17.
“Considering the above stated findings, we can safely conclude
that a prima facie case of conspiracy to retain proceeds of unlawful
activities, retention of the proceeds of unlawful activities, money
laundering contrary to Section 15(3) and 18(a) of the Money Laundering
(Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012 and forgery contrary to Section 1(2)
(c) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap M17, Laws of the
Federation, 2004 have been established against the aforementioned
suspects.”
Also, Mrs. Jonathan has admitted that she is the owner and
signatory to the five accounts in which the Economic and Financial
Crimes (EFCC) found over $22.3million.
She said she has never received any monies from any unknown sources paid into the five accounts.
But she was silent on the sources of the cash wired into the affected accounts.
She however explained that the accounts were opened to facilitate
her travel overseas particularly for medical treatment, sundry purchase
for herself and her late mother Mrs. Charity Oba (Mama Sisi).
She indicted Wampemo-Owei Dudafa who was the Special Adviser on
Domestic Affairs to the former President Dr. Jonathan, and Skye Bank
officials for registering phony companies for four of the five accounts.
A statement by her Media Office said: “Sometime in 2013,
following the advice of top officials of the EFCC then in the company of
Wampemo-Owei Dudafa who was the Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to
the former President Dr. Jonathan, that she should not travel oversees
with cash otherwise she may contravene Money Laundering laws, Mrs.
Patience Jonathan agreed to open accounts with Skye Bank Plc and
directed Dudafa to see to it.
“Dudafa came with two bank managers (Officials) of Skye Bank Plc with the account opening forms which she duly signed.
“These accounts were all dollar based Platinum Visa cards in respect of five accounts.
“When the bank officials brought the ATM cards for the said
accounts of which she is sole signatory, she discovered to her surprise
that only one of these accounts bore her personal name while four were
in the names of companies not known to her.
“She immediately complained about this anomaly to Dudafa and
the bank officials, Demola Doledeoku and Dipo Oshodi came back to the
villa with forms to change and convert the said accounts to the personal
name of Mrs. Jonathan.
“This was her firm request which the bank officials promised to
effect immediately and she duly completed account conversion forms and
signed the mandate forms as a the sole signatory, but as it would
appear, the said bank officials did not change the Account names despite
her request.
“It was in 2014 or thereabout that she was given the ATM cards
for all the five accounts with the bank officials promising to exchange
the cards for the four reflecting her correct names. This again, the
banks officials failed to do despite her repeated request.”
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- The Nation
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