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IKOYIGATE: Court sacks Union Bank’s claim, orders permanent forfeiture of flat to FG

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IKOYIGATE: Court sacks Union Bank’s claim, orders permanent forfeiture of flat to FG

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday sacked Union Bank Plc claim that it has interest in Flat 7B, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), last April recovered large sums of money amounting to $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23, 218,000 (about N13billion).

The court which ordered for a permanent forfeiture of the property to the Federal Government, described Union Bank as a busybody crying more than the bereaved.

The large sums of money recovered by the EFCC in the flat last year April were stashed away in iron cabinets and “Ghana-must-go” bags. The ownership of the apartment was later traced by the anti-graft agency to Mrs. Folashade Oke, wife of the suspended Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ayodele Oke.

The EFCC had told the court that Folashade bought the property with proceeds of fraud from her husband and had urged the court to issue an order for permanent forfeiture of the property to the Federal Government.

The presiding judge, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, ruling on the matter on Friday, granted EFCC’s prayer, dismissing the objection by Union Bank, which claimed to have interest in the property.

Justice Olatoregun said that she found from the papers filed before the court that Union Bank had already sold the property to Chobe Ventures Ltd., a company owned by Mrs. Oke.

“It appears to me that the interested party (Union Bank) is a busybody, who is crying more than the bereaved, having transferred all its rights on the property, the subject matter of this suit. The interested party has no legal reason to lodge any complaint on the steps being taken by the EFCC on the property, having divested its interest by the outright sale of the property to Chobe Ventures.

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“I find the interested party’s motion, seeking to vacate the interim order of forfeiture granted by this court on November 9, 2017, as unmeritorious and same is struck out.

“From the affidavit evidence before the court, the applicant (EFCC) has shown clearly that the property sought to be forfeited was reasonably suspected to have been acquired with the proceeds of unlawful activities of Mr. and Mrs. Ayodele Oke in the name of Chobe Ventures.

“The fund belongs to the Federal Government of Nigeria, which, at the material time, is under the control of Ambassador Ayodele Oke. The respondent, Chobe Ventures Ltd., refused and neglected to either file any process or appear in court,” Justice Olatoregun held.

 

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