By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Senior Correspondent
A Federal High Court in Lagos has finally ordered former Chief of Naval Staff, Dele Ezeoba, to forfeit N1.83 billion to the federal government, being the proceeds of crime
Justice Muslim Hassan gave the judgment following an application by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo.
The application was brought under Section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud Act 2006.
Joined in the suit as defendants were Chukwuka Onwuchekwa and Aquila Leasing Limited.
The court had on March 15 issued an interim order for forfeiture and ordered the EFCC to publish it in a national newspaper for the knowledge of interested parties.
In the judgment, Hassan ordered a final forfeiture of the entire N1.825 billion to the government, saying the EFCC hadcomplied with Section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud Act as well as the EFCC Act.
“Having satisfied that such property is an unclaimed property, and also satisfying the provisions of the law, the court shall order the final forfeiture of the said property.
“In this view, there is no other proof required to enable the court make an order of final forfeiture; this application is meritorious and hereby granted.
“An order is hereby made for final forfeiture of the total sum of N1.825 billion to the federal government of Nigeria,” the judge said.
The EFCC hadin the trialsubmitted that
- The money was traced to the account of Aquila Leasing and Ezeoba had agreed in his statement to the EFCC to forfeit the money.
- The money was the proceeds of crime fraudulently diverted from the Nigerian Navy under the leadership of Ezeoba.
- Ezeoba used the name of “Chukwuka Onwuchekwa” to open a fraudulent bank account in disguise while he was the one who truly laundered the money.
- He admitted in his statement to the EFCC that the account was opened with Onwuchekwa’s consent while he (Ezeoba) managed it.
- In a “desperate bid” to further disguise and conceal the illicit source of the funds, Ezeoba entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to buy Aquila’s shares from Onwucheka, the managing director of the company.
- The shares were worth N2.4 billion, out of which about N1.83billion has been recovered in drafts in favour of the government.
The EFCC sought an order of court for Ezeoba to forfeit the N1.825 billion to the government, which he did not oppose.
His counsel, Pascal Madu, said his clients were not opposed to the permanent forfeiture of the money but insisted they were not involved in any fraud.
He explained that Ezeoba gave them the money to buy shares for him, as part of savings over the years.