By Abubakar Yunusa
A federal high court in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture of $2.045 million linked to Godwin Emefiele, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a ruling delivered on Friday, Deinde Dipeolu, presiding judge, ordered the permanent forfeiture of the monies, seven choice landed properties and the two share certificates of Queensdorf Global Fund Limited Trust.
The judge held that Emefiele was not able to connect his lawful earnings as a staff of Zenith Bank and the CBN to the acquisition of the properties.
The court held that the former CBN Governor failed to provide documents or links to show that he owned the properties.
On August 15, Akintayo Aluko, a vacation judge, issued an interim order of forfeiture against Emefiele following an application filed by Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC counsel.
Oyedepo said the forfeited assets were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
The court directed the EFCC to publish the order for any person interested in the funds to explain why it should not be finally forfeited to the federal government.
At the hearing on October 11, the EFCC counsel applied for the final forfeiture of the sum as well as share certificates, which he said were not contested by the interested party.
Emefiele had denied any connection between him and the companies in whose names the properties were purchased. Representatives of the companies had also failed to appear before the court to claim the properties.
In his ruling, the judge held that “the conclusion that can be deduced is that there must be something dark about the acquisition of the properties which Emefiele and the companies does not want to come to light.”
“I therefore order the final forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria of all those properties…which are reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities,” the judge said.
The companies listed include Amrash Ventures Limited, Modern Hotels Limited, Finebury Properties Limited, Fidelity Express Services Limited, H & Y Business Global Limited and SDEM Erectors Nigeria Limited.
The forfeited properties include two fully detached duplexes of identical structures situated at No. 17b Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos; an undeveloped land, measuring 1919.592sqm with Survey Plan No. DS/LS/340 at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos; a bungalow at No. 65a Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos and a four-bedroom duplex at 12a Probyn Road, Ikoyi.
Others are an industrial complex under construction on 22 plots of land in Agbor, Delta State; eight units of an undetached apartment on a plot measuring 2457.60sqm at No. 8a Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi, and a duplex together with all its appurtenances on a plot of land measuring 2217.87sqm at 2a Bank Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.