Court orders final forfeiture of $2.04m, properties and shares linked to ex- CNB Governor, EMEFIELE

Saturday, November 2, 2024 -Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture of the sum of $2.045 million linked to a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

In a ruling delivered on Friday, November 1, Justice Aluko also ordered the seizure of seven choice landed properties in the Ikoyi area of the state and two share certificates of Queensdorf Global Fund Limited trust for being proceeds of crime. The judge ordered the permanent forfeiture of the money and the two share certificates of Queensdorf Global Fund Limited Trust after holding that either the former CBN governor or any other interested party contested the forfeiture application.

The court also forfeited the properties on the ground that Emefiele could not connect his lawful earnings from Zenith Bank and the CBN to acquisition of the properties.

The court further held that the former CBN governor failed to provide documents or links to show that he owned the properties saying the title documents of the properties bear different names.

The judge stated that from all the processes filed before him, Emefiele denied any connection between himself and the companies in whose names the properties were purchased and that the companies have also failed to appear before the court to claim the properties.

He listed the name of the companies through which the properties are acquired as Amrash Ventures Limited, Modern Hotels Limited, Finebury Properties Limited, H & Y Business Global Limited and SDEM Erectors Nigeria Limited.

“The conclusion is that there must be something dark about the acquisition of the properties, which Emefiele and the companies do not want to come to light. I, hereby, held that the interested party has failed to demonstrate any lawful interest in the properties and that they were acquired through his legitimate earnings. An order of final forfeitures is hereby granted on the properties and shall be forfeited to the federal government.”the judge ruled

The properties are two fully detached duplexes of identical structures, lying at No. 17b Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, an undeveloped land measuring 1919.592 sqm with Survey Plan No. DS/LS/340 at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos; a bungalow at No. 65a Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos and a four-bedroom duplex at 12a Probyn Road, Ikoyi.

Others are an industrial complex under construction on 22 plots of land in Agbor, Delta State; 8 units of an undetached apartment on a plot measuring 2457.60sqm at No. 8a Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi, and a full duplex together with all its appurtenances on a plot of land measuring 2217.87sqm at 2a Bank Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The court had, on August 25, 2024, authorised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to temporarily take custody of the cash sum of $2.045million, the choice landed properties and shares linked to Emefiele.

The judge granted the order after listening to an ex-parte motion filed by the counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).

While moving the forfeiture application, Oyedepo had submitted that Emefiele’s lawful earnings and savings before the assumption of office as CBN Governor, as he declared, was not used to acquire the properties sought to be forfeited.

However, counsel to Emefiele, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), had urged the court not to grant the final forfeiture of the properties, arguing that his client had shown in a balance of probability that the court ought not to grant final forfeiture of the properties.