The Federal High Court in Lagos has mandated the temporary confiscation of seven properties and $2.04 million connected to the troubled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
After receiving an application from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which is looking into any fraudulent activity connected to Emefiele, Justice Akintayo Aluko issued the order on Thursday.
Prime real estate in Lagos’ Lekki and Ikoyi neighborhoods 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.
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.
This is in light of the case’s postponed hearing, which is scheduled for September 5, 2024.
The anti-graft agency has won a number of forfeiture orders against Emefiele, who is accused of wrongdoing, and this Thursday’s forfeiture is the most recent in the sequence.
Remembers that on May 29, 2024, the same Federal High Court in Lagos issued an order forfeiting $1.4 million connected to the troubled head of the top bank.
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.
