A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of $7 million abandoned in a Lagos branch of a commercial bank to the Federal Government.
Justice Emeka Nwite issued the order on Monday while ruling on an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and moved by Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).
The court had on 27 August granted an interim forfeiture order and directed the EFCC to publish the order in a national newspaper. Oyedepo told the court that since the publication on 1 September, no one had come forward to claim the money, prompting the application for its final forfeiture.
A lawyer who appeared for an interested party, Darlington Ozurumba, did not oppose the application, while another counsel who had promised to file a counter-affidavit failed to do so.
Justice Nwite held that since the application was unopposed, there was no reason to reject it, and granted the EFCC’s request for the funds to be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the application, the EFCC said its investigators, acting on credible intelligence, discovered the cash between 25 and 26 March and recovered it in full.
The commission said the money was delivered in tranches to the bank’s cash officer, Agba Emmanuel Fortune, but was never credited to any account, instead kept secretly in the vault.
Statements obtained from bank officials linked the cash to couriers identified as Suleiman Sani and Idris Ahmed Olatunji, but no one has claimed ownership.
The EFCC stated that the transaction was suspicious and no Suspicious Transaction Report was filed with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
The $7 million has since been deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria for safekeeping.
