Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on
Friday ordered the formal forfeiture of N449,597,000 (about N450 million) found
by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in LEGICO Shopping mall,
Victoria Island, Lagos to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The EFCC had on April 8 said it uncovered a large sum of
suspected laundered money to the tune of N448,850,000 in the Shopping Plaza.
Mr. Aikawa had on April 19 ordered an interim forfeiture of
the said money uncovered by the commission.
The order came following a motion ex-parte filed by Rotimi
Oyedepo, a prosecutor with the EFCC pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee
Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006.
Mr. Aikawa in his ruling last month, ordered anyone
interested in the money to appear before him at the next adjourned date to show
reason why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal
Government.
The judge also directed the commission to publish in any
national daily for anyone to show cause within 14 days why the order for the
final forfeiture should not be granted.
However, in his motion on notice at the resumed hearing on
Friday, Idris Mohammed, counsel to the EFCC urged the court to issue a final
order forfeiting the total sum of N449,597,000 to the federal government.
Source:Premium Times Ng
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