Court refuses to de-freeze accounts with Unity Bank linked to fraudulent activities

By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka

Senior Correspondent

Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo  of a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi Lagos, Nigeria on Thursday May 17 dismissed a suit filed  by a Nigerian businesswoman Hajiya Bola Muinat Shagaya, challenging the decision of another high court  which ordered the freezing of her accounts with Unity Bank. She had urged the court to set aside the order freezing her accounts.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria had in an ex-parte application urged the court to freeze the businesswoman’s accounts suspected to be containing money gotten from unlawful activities.

Ruling on the application to set aside the order freezing the accounts, the presiding judge, Justice Oguntoyinbo, in her verdict declared that the order made by her learned brother Justice Muslim Hassan  in freezing the accounts of the business woman is valid. The judge further declared that Bola Shagaya’s suit before her to vacate the said order is an abuse of court process, as she (judge) cannot sit as an appellate court to vacate the order of the same concurrent jurisdiction.
Bola Shagaya had in a suit filed before Justice  Oguntoyinbo  urged the court to set aside the order made by another judge of  Federal High Court Lagos, Justice Muslim Hassan, freezing her bank accounts in Unity Bank Plc.
On the other hand, the Federal Government contended that the accounts in contention were used by the businesswoman to launder billions of Naira for former first Lady Dame Patience Jonathan.

In an affidavit deposed to by  a litigation officer Sulaiman Ali and filed before the court by a Lagos lawyer Mr Napoleon Emeaso-Nwachukwu, the deponent averred that sometime in the months of October and November 2016, Hajiya Bola Shagaya issued several payment instructions to her bank, Unity Bank Plc in respect of third party transactions, but to the applicant’s utmost surprise  the said instructions to ‘pay’ were declined by her bank, in spite of the fact that the applicant had enough money to her credit with the bank to cover all the payments as per her instructions prior to issuing the cheques.

It was stated that upon her enquiry, the bank intimated her  that it received a letter from the Federal Government directing it to place a Post No Debit on her account with it forthwith.
Upon getting the information, the applicant instituted a suit at the High Court of Lagos State against Unity Bank Plc, but in its defence,  the bank attached a copy of a court order it received, to the court process it filed to justify its refusal to honour the numerous payments instructions issued by the applicant.
Mr Sulaiman  further averred that the ex-parte order of the court attaching the applicant’s property was made pending the determination of an investigation and possible prosecution of the applicant, and it is devoid of a definite time frame and capable of lasting in perpetuity.
Besides, there is no criminal suit pending against the applicant in any court of law anywhere prior to, or after the ex- parte order now sought to be set aside was made.
Consequently, the applicant contended that, it would be in the interest of Justice for the court to set aside the order.

However, in a counter affidavit sworn to by an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Musbahu Yahaya Abubakar and filed before the court by EFCC legal counsel Idris Abdullahi Mohammed, the deponent averred that EFCC received a cogent, direct and positive intelligence of a case of conspiracy, unlawful enrichment and money laundering against the applicant;  that the applicant was making suspicious deposits into the accounts, the subject matter of investigation; that the fund of the unlawful activities were paid into a front organisation account called “WOMEN FOR CHANGE INITIATIVE”for the benefit of the former first lady Dame Patience Jonathan.
It was stated that the applicant through her alleged fraudulent activities in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),  influenced the fraudulent allocation of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK)  to Index Petrolube Africa Limited with the aid of the former first lady.
It was further stated that as a result of these fraudulent activities, the applicant was paid “FOUNDER FEES” in the sum of N3,305,150,000 by Index Petrolube Africa Limited and its sister company, Autodex Nigeria Limited, both owned by Hon.Ezeani ThankGod for the fraudulent facilitation of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) to his company, Index Petrolube Africa Limited.
Based on the above, the applicant paid a cumulative sum of N1,212,000,000.to the former first lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan through her account Women for change initiative account domiciled in Diamond bank in which the former first lady was sole signatory.
The  sum of  N1,902,673,399.93 being the remaining balance from the aforementioned proceeds of the unlawful activities, was warehoused in the personal accounts of the applicant domiciled in Unity Bank.
EFCC averred that it invited Billy Okoye, the Executive Director Commercial, of the Nigerian Petroleum Marketing Company (NPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC who stated that he did not know anything about the founder ‘s fee and he never heard of it until confronted by the EFCC.

It was further averred that whenever Hon. Ezeani ThankGod makes fraudulent deposits into the account of Hajiya Shagaya through his companies, Index Petrolube Africa Limited and Autodex Nigeria Limited, Hajiya Shagaya will thereafter transfer a particular sum to the account of the former first lady via women for change initiatives in Diamond bank
The applicant was alleged to have been using three accounts with numbers, 0003261118, 0025111493, 0025092589, domiciled in Unity Bank Plc respectively to warehouse and harbors the suspected proceeds of the alleged crime.

In view of the above, the respondent (EFCC) applied to the court by ex -parte application for an order of interim attachment before a Federal High Court in Lagos, and the presiding Judge in her wisdom after hearing the respondent’s application and reading the originating summons, granted an interim order on the  December 29, 2016 against the applicant’s accounts domiciled in the Unity Bank, pending the determination of the investigation and possible prosecution.
Investigation further revealed that the funds transfered to Mrs  Patience Jonathan were parts of the funds paid to her for facilitating allocation of DPK to Index Petrolube Africa company.  The applicant was alleged to have refused to honour EFCC invitation to enable the anti-graft agency to confront her with its findings of investigation.
Consequently, the respondent while urging the court to refuse the application and dismiss same as it is not only frivolous, but an abuse of court process, and time wasting
After the adoption of the written addresses of the two parties justice  Oguntoyinbo adjourned till today (Thursday) for judgement.
While berating the applicant after citing plethora of authorities, the judge said ” it could had been neater for the applicant to have filed a motion on notice before Justice Hassan before whom the suit to freeze her account was pending, since he was the one abreast  with the fact of the case instead of filing another suit or better still to file appeal against the order of the court.
“More so she did not controvert nearly all the averment of EFCC especially as the anti-graft agency stated that she did not honour its invitation sent to her to come to their office for interview. In addition justice Oguntoyinbo further stated that the EFCC act empowers Judges to make preservative order while investigation is on going in order for the asset to be preserved from dissipation, and this type of order are made without putting the party involve on notice.
“Therefore there is no way the applicant could have claimed that her right has been violated”.