Tuesday, December 31, 2024 - A Federal High Court in Abuja has okayed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s application to freeze 24 bank accounts domiciled in different banks over allegations bordering on terrorism financing.
Justice
Emeka Nwite, who granted the application after the EFCC’s lawyer, Martha
Babatunde, moved an ex-parte motion to the effect, gave the commission the
go-ahead to freeze the accounts for 90 days pending the conclusion of the
investigation.
The News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the motion ex-parte, marked:
FHC/ABJ/CS/1897/V/2024, was filed by Ekele Iheanacho, SAN.
Iheanacho
sought an order freezing the bank accounts stated in the schedule which
accounts are owned by Lawrence Lucky Eromosele who is currently being
investigated in a case involving kidnapping pending the conclusion of the
investigation.
He said
the bank accounts in respect of which the reliefs were sought are subject to
matters of investigation by the EFCC in relation to money laundering and
terrorism financing.
The senior
lawyer said the preliminary investigation conducted thus far revealed that the
bank accounts are linked to persons who take advantage of the virtual
cryptocurrency exchange platforms to illegally manipulate the value of naira
and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities.
He said
there was a need to preserve the funds in the identified bank accounts pending
the conclusion of the investigation and possible prosecution.
In the
affidavit deposed to by Mohammed Khalil, an investigator attached to the
Special Investigation Team of the EFCC domiciled in the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA), he said he was a member of the team assigned to
investigate the matter.
He said
the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, directed the team to
investigate a serious threat by a syndicate threatening the lives of senior
operatives of the NSA by making demands for payments of ransom.
He said on
receipt of the directive, the team began the investigation by conducting
surveillance of the activities on these syndicates, requesting bank
instruments.
Kalil said
the investigation revealed Lawrence Lucky Eromosele as one of the perpetrators
of the crime.
According
to him, the operatives received a direct threat involving their families, with
the perpetrators providing the home addresses, family locations and specific
movements with a threat to kidnap following failure to remit redemption
payments.
He alleged
that “one unknown individual contacted an operative, demoing some monies in
exchange for their freedom and that of their families.”
“Attached
and marked as Exhibit EFCC 1 is the printout of the chat between one of the
perpetrators and the operative.”
The
officer said in a bid to mitigate some of the threats, the team had identified
bank accounts linked to the individuals making the threats.
“Attached
and marked as Exhibit EFCC 2 are the bank statements of one of the
suspects.
“Further
intelligence has revealed that proceeds of crimes and funds for terrorist
activities are covertly exchanged through these platforms,” he said.
Kalil said
the order of the court was necessary to freeze the said accounts clearly
described in Schedule 1 of the motion paper for which the investigation is
ongoing.
Upon
resumed hearing, Babatunde, who appeared for EFCC, informed the court that the
motion was dated and filed on Dec. 17.
She said
the motion prayed for an order freezing the bank accounts in the schedule
attached to the application.
The lawyer
urged the court to grant the relief.
When
Justice Nwite asked her for how long the investigation would be conducted,
Babatunde said within 90 days.
The judge,
who granted the prayer, adjourned the matter until March 24,, 2025 for
mention.
0 Comments