Wife of ex President, Patience Jonathan has begged the Federal High Court in Lagos to release the $5.7m and N2.4bn seized from her by EFCC.
Her lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN) made the plea to Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, asking him to dismiss the application from EFCC, who are hoping that the cash will be permanently forfeited to the FG.
Ifedayo feels it is wrong for EFCC to say the cash is a product of crime when Patience Jonathan has not done anything against the law.
His words, “It is not the law that if the EFCC finds money in an account and it doesn’t like the owner’s face, it comes to court and says ‘forfeit it’.
“The government is at liberty to apply for forfeiture but the offence must be stated.’’
“All that the EFCC said was that they saw money in her account and assumed it was stolen. They didn’t say from who.”
However, counsel for the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, insisted that cash was acquired through crime.
His words, “The $5m was not the first respondent’s (Patience’s) legitimate earnings. She was a public servant and a salary earner. The sums cannot be her legitimate income.
“We urge the court to agree with us and forfeit the sum to the Federal Government.”
He said the bank account in which the N2.4bn was found “was shrouded in mystery and fraud”.
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