Justice Emeka Nwite of
the Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 ordered the final
forfeiture of the sum of N2, 739,836,331.31(Two Billion, Seven Hundred and
Thirty-nine Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty-six Thousand, Three Hundred and
Thirty-one Naira, Thirty-one Kobo), being proceeds of illegal
mining of solid minerals in Endo Community, Nasarawa State.
The Judge gave the
order following an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC through its counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, dated
September 27, 2024, asking for the final forfeiture of the
sum to the federal government, pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance
Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006,
having reasonably suspected it to be proceeds of unlawful
activities.
The court had on
July 8, 2024 granted an interim forfeiture order on the sum to
the federal government which was published in The Punch Newspaper of
August 8, 2024 as required by law to enable anyone with
legitimate claim of ownership of the money to show forth.
At Wednesday’s
proceedings, Ibrahim Idris, SAN, counsel to the
first and second defendant, Lideal Mines
Ltd and Etong Agrotech Nigeria Ltd, respectively informed
the court of his withdrawal of the application on behalf of his
clients, challenging the final forfeiture of the sum, which
the prosecution welcomed with no objection.
The forfeited funds are
in four bank accounts, all belonging to
the two defendants. One Hundred and Two Million, Eight Hundred
and Thirty-five Thousand, Four Hundred and Sixty Naira, Eighty-five Kobo
(N102,835,460.85), was domiciled in a Zenith Bank account
belonging to Lideal Mines Ltd, while N1,288,265,692.11(One
Billion, Two Hundred and Eighty-eight Million, Two Hundred and Sixty-five
Thousand, Six Hundred and Ninety-two Naira, Eleven Kobo), domiciled in
Zenith Bank, N1,187,909,426.70 (One Billion, One Hundred and
Eighty-seven Million, Nine Hundred and Nine Thousand, Four Hundred and
Twenty-six Naira, Seventy Kobo) domiciled in
UBA and N160,825,751.70 (One Hundred and Sixty Million, Eight
Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifty-one Naira, Seventy
Kobo) domiciled in Globus Bank accounts, respectively
belong to Etong Agrotech Nigeria Limited.
Justice Nwite adjourned
the matter till October 23, 2024 for hearing of application
for the final forfeiture of other sums linked to the
three defendants.
Comments:
Leave a Reply