By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Senior Correspondent
The controversial sums of $43,449,947 ; £27,800 and N23,218,000 discovered at Flat 7b Osborne Towers, Ikoyi last April which were packed inside iron cabinets and ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bags suspected to belong to Mrs Folashade Oke, wife of sacked Director General of the Nigerian Inteligence Agency (NIA) are now temporary forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).
Also temporary forfeited to FGN is 7b Osborne Towers Ikoyi, Lagos.
The order for the temporary forfeiture was made by Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court Lagos, following an ex-parte application filed and moved by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Earlier, the Commission had fingered Mrs. Folashade Oke, as the owner of the flat, maintaining its discovery that Mrs. Oke made a cash payment of $1.658m for the purchase of the flat between August 25 and September 3, 2015.
The anti-graft agency had further submitted that Mrs. Oke allegedly purchased the property in the name of a company, Chobe Ventures Limited, to which she and her son, Master Ayodele Oke Junior were directors. Investigation also revealed that payment was said to have been made to one Fine and Country Limited.
The anti-graft agency further explained that Mrs. Oke made the cash payment in tranches of $700,000, $650,000 and $353,700 to a Bureau de Change company, Sulah Petroleum and Gas Limited, which later converted the sums into N360 million and subsequently paid it to Fine and Country Limited for the purchase of the property.
The judge adjourned the matter to November 30 for hearing of the substantive suit.
