{"id":16822,"date":"2019-04-12T20:17:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T20:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=16822"},"modified":"2019-04-12T20:17:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T20:17:03","slug":"alleged-n12-2bn-fraud-patience-jonathan-knows-fate-may-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=16822","title":{"rendered":"Alleged N12.2bn Fraud: Patience Jonathan Knows Fate May 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

… Witness Describes Shagaya as Patience’s Co Conspirator<\/strong>
\nJustice Mojisola Olatoregun of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Friday, April 12, 2019, fixed May 9, 2019 to deliver judgment in an application for final forfeiture filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of the sums of $8,435,788.84 (about N3 billion) and N9.2 billion (totalling about N12.2 billion), linked to Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
\nThe court had, on April 19, 2018, ordered an interim forfeiture of the money, following an ex-parte application filed by the EFCC against Patience and some companies.
\nThe companies named in the suit marked FHC\/L\/CS\/620\/18 are: Globus Integrated Service Limited, Finchley Top Homes Limited, AM-PM Global Network Limited, Pagmat Oil and Gas Limited and Magel Resort Limited.
\nThe money was said to be warehoused in some banks, including Skye Bank Plc (now Polaris Bank Plc), Diamond Bank Plc, Stabic-IBTC and First Bank Plc.
\nAt Friday\u2019s proceedings, two prosecution witnesses, Orji Chukwuma and Oghare Ogbole, who are investigators with the EFCC, deposed and adopted the affidavit showing cause why the money forfeited in interim, should be finally forfeited to the Federal Government.
\nWhen asked by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, to explain the details of his investigations and findings into the alleged fraud, Chukwuma said the first respondent, Jonathan, was a public servant with the Bayelsa State Government and a Permanent Secretary between July 23, 2012, and October 2, 2014.
\nThe witness also informed the court that investigations revealed that, even after the first respondent, Jonathan, had retired, she was still receiving salaries up until May 12, 2018.
\nWhen asked to state if there were any connections between Jonathan and the other respondents, he said: \u201cThere is, indeed, a connection between them, as the proceeds of unlawful activities were warehoused by the third to the sixth respondent (Finchley Top Homes Limited, Am-Pm- Global Network Limited, Pagmat Oil And Gas Limited and Magel Resort Limited).
\n\u201cIn a bid to conceal the funds, the seventh respondent, Esther Oba\u2019s name would appear on several documents and the signature would be that of the first respondent.
\n\u201cThis was done to enable them manage the proceeds of this unlawful accounts and more of other fraudulent activities. \u201cWhen asked to reveal his investigation into the Women for Change and Development Initiative, Chukwuma told the court that it was incorporated by \u201cDame Patience Jonathan and some trustees, including Mrs. Oyewole, Iyom Josephine and some Others. \u201cBut the first respondent was the sole signatory to the account.\u201d
\nAccording to him, various sums of money were deposited by various individuals, companies and state governments.
\nHe said: \u201cA total sum of N1, 212,000,000 (One billion, Two hundred and Twelve Million Naira) only was paid in by one Mrs. Bola Shagaya, which sum represented part of proceeds of corrupt enrichment.
\n\u201cIt was received from Index Petrolube African Limited and Autodex Nigeria Limited by Practoil Limited on behalf of the first respondent, who used her influence as the First Lady to influence NNPC in arranging allocation of Dual Purpose kerosene (DPK) to Petrolube African Ltd and its subsidiary Company Index Autodex Nigerian Ltd.\u201d
\nHe also told the court that Mrs. Yemisi Oyewole, one of the members of Board of Trustee, was interviewed and she told his team that the money was from things they sold in their shop.
\nThe witness, however, told the court that investigations showed that the money in the possession of the 3rd to 6th respondents\u2019 accounts did not have anything to do with sales, adding that \u201cthey did not render any services to anyone\u201d.
\n\u201cThey are proceeds of unlawful activities. Some of the money was taken from Aso villa in Dollars (cash) and converted to Naira and paid into the account of one of the stewards at Aso Villa, Mr Peter, who said in his statement that he made deposits with fictitious names into this account.\u201d
\nChukwuma also denied the claim by the 7th respondent, Oba that the money was her salaries and estacodes, saying, \u201cI visited a plaza she owns and it is worth Millions.
\n\u201cThere is no place in her salary statements of account that shows she earned that much.
\nChukwuma, under cross-examination by Ifedayo Adedipe, SAN, was asked if he knew that the\u00a0 former First Lady had a pet project ( Women for Change and Development Initiative) and also if he reviewed the Constitution\u00a0 of the NGO.
\nIn his response, he told the court that his investigations revealed Women for Change and Development Initiative as a company that was used to warehouse proceeds from unlawful activities, while its Constitution was different from what it was actually being used for.
\nWhen asked if any of the people made donations to the project did so under compulsion by the first respondent, Jonathan responded, among other revelations, that he did not investigate the state government that paid in money \u201cas it is a body not a person; and my understanding of the relationship of the first respondent and Shagaya is that they are co conspirators.
\nAsked by counsel to the second respondent, Gboyega Oyewole, SAN, about Somprie Omeibi, whom he said is the promoter of the company, he said: \u201cI met with Omebie\u2019s lawyer who informed him that he incorporated the company.
\n\u201cHe said he is not an employee of the first to the seven respondents.\u201d During cross-examination, Ogbole, said the Women for Change and Development Initiative NGO could not have written any letter against the first respondent that she had defrauded it because \u201cshe is still the sole signatory of the Women for Change and Development Initiative.\u201d
\nWhen asked by Mike Ozekhome, SAN, if she ever interviewed the first respondent or Dudafa whom he said transferred money to the third and the sixth respondents, she said she did not do personally.
\nMojisola Olatoregun then adjourned the case to May 9 and 13, 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… Witness Describes Shagaya as Patience’s Co Conspirator Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Friday, April 12, 2019, fixed May 9, 2019 to deliver judgment in an application for final forfeiture filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of the sums of $8,435,788.84 (about N3 billion) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}