Justice Rilawan Aikawa of the federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of N449,750,000 found in an abandoned Bureau de Change shop in Victoria Island by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The forfeiture order was made by the presiding judge following an ex parte application taken before him by the anti-graft agency.
Justice Aikawa ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to advertise the order in a newspaper and said anybody interested in the money should report in court to justify ownership.
The interest party must appear before him within 14 days to show cause as to why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
An investigator with the EFCC, Moses Awolusi, said in the affidavit filed before the judge that the shop numbered LS64, located on at Legico Shopping Plaza, at Victoria island, Lagos had not been opened for two years.
Awolusi said the money was found on April 7, 2017 in several “Ghana Must Go” sacks, adding that the EFCC recovered the money after investigating intelligence information received on one Mohammed Tauheed.
The judge adjourned the matter till May 19, 2017.
